The Rogue: A Highland Guard Novella (The Highland Guard) Read online

  Her heart sank, anticipating what was coming. It didn’t take long.

  “You’ve been so quiet since you returned, Izzie. Did something happen on your ride today with Randolph?”

  That was one way of putting it. A stab of guilt pricked her conscience. Izzie looked over at her cousin and for a moment thought about telling her the truth: I temporarily lost my mind and let the man you are intending to marry kiss me against a cliff side… and oh yes, by the way, I might have kissed him back.

  The two cousins had always been extremely close, and Izzie suspected Elizabeth would be surprised—God knew, she certainly was—but not angry or heartbroken. It was clear this marriage, if there was to be one, was for duty and dynastic purposes, not affection. Her cousin’s heart was not engaged any more than Randolph’s. Nor was it likely to be, which would serve Elizabeth well when Randolph inevitably strayed from the marriage bed.

  It was silly and perhaps unrealistic—fidelity was hardly common among noblemen—but Izzie wanted more from her marriage. She wasn’t naive or romantic enough to think she would marry for love. Women of noble birth in her and Elizabeth’s position married to forge alliances and advance their families and clans. But she wanted respect, loyalty, and affection from the man she married. Her mother had had that with her first husband, Izzie’s father, but not with her second. She’d warned Izzie before she’d died not to make the same mistake—not to be fooled by a man who seemed too good to be true.

  Izzie had learned the hard way that she should have listened to her. She would not make the same mistake again.

  But her cousin didn’t seem to have the same concerns. That she and Randolph liked one another was enough, boding well for a perfectly happy and successful noble marriage. The Douglases would benefit from Randolph’s great landed wealth and royal connection, and Randolph would have Elizabeth’s generous tocher and the most dazzlingly beautiful woman at court as his wife.

  Her cousin was far more than that—Elizabeth was smart, accomplished, generous, and kind—but Izzie suspected the reason Randolph had been persuaded to give up his prized bachelorhood was because he knew he would be unlikely to find a more “perfect” bride to complement his “perfect” knight. With her blond hair, big blue eyes, and poppet-like features, Elizabeth looked like a faerie princess drawn straight from the pages of a children’s tale, and not surprisingly Randolph had claimed the part of the handsome prince by her side. The abbey was already buzzing with admiration for the two after Randolph’s grandiose “romantic” greeting the other night, riding into the abbey yard in full, shiny mail on a great black charger and dropping to his knee to kiss Elizabeth’s hand.

  How could Izzie compete with a faerie tale?

  Not that she wanted to, although she had to admit she’d had a few—maybe more than a few—confused thoughts after that kiss. Something tugged in her chest, perilously close to her heart. For a moment…

  For a moment she’d been half-crazed. She must have been to have succumbed so easily to that kiss and the man who’d wielded it so expertly—Lord knew, he must have had enough practice. “What’s not to love?” Well, it certainly wasn’t the way he kissed. Sir Too-Good-To-Be-True was indeed too good to be true in that regard.

  Had she actually thought even for a minute that she’d felt something special? What she’d felt was desire.

  The physical reaction was hardly unexpected. He is gorgeous, who wouldn’t be attracted to him?

  Your cousin for one, a little voice pointed out. It was true; if Elizabeth was attracted to him, she hid it well.

  But Izzie pushed that annoying voice aside. Just because she was attracted to him, didn’t mean anything. She wasn’t going to let one kiss make her act like a silly, starry-eyed maid with dreams of fate and everlasting love.

  Not with Sir Thomas Randolph, at least. He wasn’t for her any more than she was for him. Izzie wasn’t beautiful and accomplished like her cousin. She was more want-to-be scholar than princess or suitable consort for a hero, content to stay in the background rather than be the center of attention. Randolph and her cousin were the same in that regard, both seemed to have been made to be on pedestals and to shine. Although Izzie had been told she was pretty, she was a mere mortal and not in her cousin’s realm of jaw-dropping beauty. Izzie was even-tempered and made people laugh with her wry—sometimes mischievous—observations, but she certainly didn’t dazzle.

  Why Randolph had kissed her, Izzie didn’t know. But she wasn’t going to let it upset her cousin’s plans. If she told Elizabeth about the kiss, Izzie had no doubt her cousin would read something more into it than there was and insist on stepping aside—even if there was nothing to step aside for.

  Nay, Izzie thought. If this betrothal didn’t happen, it wasn’t going to be because of her.

  She wondered if it might be about someone else though. Not wanting to lie to her cousin, she decided to turn the question back to her. “I was going to say the same about you,” she said. “Where were you going earlier that you forgot about your ride with Randolph?” Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond, but Izzie stopped her. “And don’t tell me it was an errand for Joanna—unless that errand had something to do with Thom MacGowan.”

  Elizabeth’s mouth snapped closed. Apparently, she had no more wish to talk about the earlier events in the day than Izzie. It took Elizabeth some time to reply. “I did go see Thom, but it was an errand for Jo. Truly.”

  She looked so distressed that Izzie forgot all about Randolph and reached out to comfort her cousin, putting her hand on her arm. “Did something happen, Ella?” she asked, using her cousin’s childhood nickname.

  “Yes. No. I mean…” Elizabeth put down the piece of embroidery she was working on—a banner for her brother Jamie—and her hands started to twist anxiously in her lap. “I don’t know.”

  Izzie didn’t press. It was clear Elizabeth didn’t know, and this was something she’d have to figure out herself.

  Izzie didn’t envy her. It was obvious her cousin had strong feelings for Thom MacGowan, but he was too far beneath her in rank to even be considered a suitor. The son of the village blacksmith might be a soldier now, but Elizabeth was the sister of one of Bruce’s most important lieutenants. Indeed, James had risen high enough to arrange an alliance between his sister and the king’s nephew, Randolph—the other of the king’s most important lieutenants and Jamie’s usually friendly rival.

  For the past couple of years, Jamie and Randolph had been engaged in what seemed like a back-and-forth contest of extraordinary feats of war to win the position of the king’s right-hand man. Izzie thought it was rather silly—the king had two hands, why couldn’t they each have one?—but she had to admit, it was exciting to watch them try to outdo one another. With Jamie’s recent achievement in taking Roxburgh Castle (in dramatic fashion of course), Randolph was probably chomping at the bit to do something more extraordinary in taking Edinburgh. A siege hardly qualified, which undoubtedly frustrated him to no end. It wouldn’t make for a very good story.

  Their short conversation had visibly distressed her cousin, and not long after Joanna rejoined them, Elizabeth made excuses to return to her solar.

  “Izzie and I won’t be much longer,” Joanna let her know. “It will be time to ready for the evening meal soon.”

  “I think I’ll just stay in my room tonight,” Elizabeth said. “I’m tired. I’m going to read a book and try to retire early.”

  Izzie quirked a brow at that. Thom MacGowan must really have her cousin confused for Elizabeth to be reduced to picking up a book. Her cousin had never enjoyed learning as Izzie had. “Not all of us are born to be clerks.” Randolph was right about that.

  Nonetheless, skipping the evening meal sounded like a good idea—avoiding Randolph might have occurred to her—and Izzie was tempted to do the same, but her stomach was loudly reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since morning. The planned midday feast in a basket she and Randolph were supposed to enjoy on their ride had been forgotten aft