A Highlander to Protect Her
highlight_author
Jeanine Englert
highlight_reads
19,7K
highlight_chapters
23
A bodyguard and forced proximity await in the emotional final installment of Secrets of Clan Cameron… The Highlander's choice: Protect her or his clan? Every family has secrets. Kenna Hay's? The mother who abandoned her is alive! Now Kenna must journey across Scotland to find her. After years of lies, she's determined to keep Rolf Cameron, who's tasked with escorting her, at arm's length… despite their unexpected connection. Highlander Rolf swore to Kenna's father he'd keep her safe. Even though his own quest to uncover his family's past could put both their clans in danger… But what's more dangerous is the all-consuming attraction between them, which is becoming impossible to ignore!
Prologue
Second son Rolf Cameron loathed goodbyes, but his life had been full of them.
Tonight would be no different.
Boisterous music filled his ears. A glorious sea of colourful gowns twirled before him as couples swirled along the dance floor in the lushly decorated, hallowed halls of Loch’s End. The warmth of the crush of people celebrating his older sister Susanna’s marriage to Laird Rowan Campbell was nothing short of a miracle. Now, Rolf just needed one more.
The harmonious and upbeat chords of the reel came to a stop, and his older sister met his gaze as he stood near the edges of the ballroom. She smiled and whispered something to her new husband before she lifted her skirts and rushed from the dance floor to his side with the full bloom of hope and joy for the future flushing her cheeks.
Self-loathing gurgled in Rolf’s gut. He was about to put a thistle in her revelry. Guilt niggled at him as he held a tight smile. Steady. He couldn’t let her steer him off-course. This was his only option. He had to see them all safe. He had to subdue the threats that remained.
‘Congratulations, Susanna,’ he said, pressing a kiss on his older sister’s warm cheeks. ‘You are a glorious bride, and I could not be happier for you and Rowan. You are officially now a Campbell, although I hope you know you will always be a Cameron,’ he said, unable to keep the emotion from deepening his rolling Scottish burr.
‘Thank you, brother. I cannot imagine a happier day. To be wedded to the man I love with our families by our sides is more than I could have hoped for. And, aye, I know I shall always be a Cameron.’ Susanna clutched Rolf’s hands in her own and squeezed them briefly before letting them go.
‘Then you will not be displeased when I tell you I must take my leave.’
‘Leave?’ She faltered, her brow furrowing. ‘This celebration will continue for hours. There is no need for haste.’ She smiled at him and dropped her voice. ‘Unless a lady here has caught your eye?’ She winked at him.
He chuckled. ‘Nay. It has been some time since a woman has caught my eye, as you well know.’ While he was good at finding a woman to bed if he wished to, his ability to have anything meaningful or lasting was lacking. There was far too much risk in such attachments.
‘Brother,’ Susanna said softly, her bright-blue eyes deepening. He shifted on his feet. He knew what was coming. ‘I wish you would take some of the advice you gave me,’ she continued. ‘Open your heart. You cannot let fear of loss or rejection keep you trapped in the past. What happened with Joanna...’
Joanna.
His throat dried and his toes tingled in his boots. He could not think of her, not now, or he might lose his nerve. The mere thought of another loss, of losing someone else he loved, made his pulse quicken and restlessness bubble in his veins.
‘Please,’ he pleaded, clasping her forearm gently. ‘I know you mean well, but the path you, Royce and Catriona have travelled along to build your own families may not be mine.’ The idea of being so in love with a woman and losing her again terrified him.
‘And, when I say I must go, I do not mean just this celebration.’ The familiar pull of family tightened his chest. He knew she would not like what came next.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, not following his meaning. ‘You must go somewhere now? It is the middle of the night.’
‘Aye. I must. I am headed to the Borderlands, and I need to arrive in Melrose before the New Year. I cannot waste another moment. I cannot be late.’
Susanna stilled, finally understanding, her eyes searching his. ‘Are you serious? You plan to meet this stranger, this supposed antiques dealer, about Mother’s letters?’ she asked, dropping her voice to a whisper. ‘How do you even know if he is legitimate?’
‘The man is genuine. I had Royce’s men investigate it for me. Bartholomew Hay is an antiques dealer. He owns a shop in Melrose. And the letter he provided to us...it appears to be of Mother’s hand. Her writing was most distinctive—you know this—and it matches. Mr Hay claims to have more of them and additional information about our clan that is of great import. He says the letters will help protect us from Laird Audric MacDonald, but time is of the essence. I can delay no longer.’
His sister crossed her arms against her chest and frowned. ‘Did he say this?’ she asked.
‘Nay, not exactly, not in so many words. But the intimation was there. I cannot stay and merely hope all will be well with the clan, Susanna. The safety of this family is most important to me, and I know Royce cannot leave the clan with times as perilous and uncertain as they are now, and with his wee babe on the way.’
Rolf stepped closer to her, taking in the scrutiny of her bright-blue gaze. He almost told her of the dreams he had been having, the nightly hauntings he could not explain, but he clamped his mouth shut instead. He dared tell no one—not yet, anyway. He needed to know what they meant first.
‘Has brother commanded you to leave and put yourself at risk?’ she demanded, pulling back her shoulders and furrowing her brow. ‘I will not have it if he has done such. Where is he?’ She scanned the room.
There was his older sister, protective and fierce, and he could not help but smile. He shook his head and rested a hand on her shoulder. ‘Nay. It is I who will be disobeying Royce’s orders by leaving. This is my decision.’
‘And does Catriona know what you are doing? That you are taking this foolish risk in hopes of protecting her and us? We do not know if this promise of letters is even true, or if it will help us unearth the truth about our past and the intrigues our parents involved themselves in. It could be yet another ploy by the MacDonalds or some other enemy setting a trap to weaken us. We do not know who we can trust any more; you know this,’ she insisted.
Rolf did not reply. He sucked in a steadying breath and felt his weight settle into his boots. ‘Aye. I know all of this, but I also know that not knowing is putting us at greater risk. And I cannot have this next generation of Camerons suffering as we have. I refuse to.’ His voice shook more than he would have liked, but he could not pretend he wasn’t sick and tired of how the secrets of their parents’ past continued to draw their blood upon them now. He wanted to protect his unborn kin, as he wished he had been protected. Enough was enough, and the agony would end with him.
Susanna nodded, her eyes softening with an understanding only one of his siblings would have. ‘Have you told Catriona?’ she asked again, quieter this time.
Susanna’s question pricked Rolf’s resolve, and his gaze cast out to see his other sister, Catriona, heavy with child, standing beside her husband and smiling with joy. This was the part of his mission he did not like. Deception was a poison he knew well, but he dared not tell Susanna the truth, so he said nothing. He despised lies. His childhood had been full of them. All they caused was rot and ruin.
Susanna clutched his hands, her gaze boring into him, and he shifted on his feet. ‘You must tell her. Do not leave this place without her knowing, without her blessing, in case...’
He knew what she left out: in case he did not return.
‘Blessing?’ He scoffed, shoving away the thought of this being his last moment with his family. ‘No one shall give me their blessing.’
Her fingers tightened around his own. ‘Nay, I do. I’d have half a mind to send Rowan with you if I did not believe you would merely annoy each other to death,’ she teased. Her eyes glistened with emotion in the soft candlelight.
‘You are right as always, sister. I shall tell her. Your blessing has given me strength.’
He pulled her into a fierce hug. ‘You have always had strength, my brother,’ she whispered in his ear. ‘More so than all of us, but you are loath to believe it, to believe in yourself. If anyone can find the truth and put this to rest for the sake of our family, it is you. You have a purity of heart and purpose like no other.’
The softness of her words and the way she cupped the back of his head with her open palm, as she had done when they’d been children, made his pulse jump.
Did he have such strength? Could he finally put all the chaos and carnage of his parents’ lies and secrets to rest and keep his family safe?
He pulled away from Susanna before he dared answer the questions in his mind and pressed a kiss on her cheek. He set off to have one of the hardest conversations of his life. If he thought telling Susanna of his departure had been difficult, telling his other beloved sister, Catriona, would be akin to setting himself alight.
