Every Highland Sin: Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance Read online

  Every Highland Sin

  She thirsted for revenge, but love was her poison...

  Kenna Kendrick

  Contents

  Thank you

  Highlanders of Cherrythorn

  About the book

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  But there’s more…

  Afterword

  Highlanders of Cherrythorn

  Do you want more Romance?

  Seduction in the Highlands

  Never miss a thing

  Thank you

  About the Author

  Thank you

  I want to personally thank you for purchasing my book. It really means a lot to me. It’s a blessing to have the opportunity to share with you, my passion for writing, through my stories.

  As a FREE GIFT, I am giving you a link to my first novel. It has more than 300 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5

  It is called “Stealing the Highland Bride”, and you can get it for FREE.

  Please note that this story is only available for YOU as a subscriber and hasn't been published anywhere else.

  Please click on the cover to download the book

  Highlanders of Cherrythorn

  Book#1

  Phantom of the Highlands

  Book#2

  Siren of the Highlands

  Book#3 (this book)

  Every Highland Sin

  About the book

  She was this close to exacting her revenge. But if she hid the truth, she would lose him forever...

  Aileas Kerr is determined to punish the villain who killed her parents and stole her land. She is preparing all her life to destroy him.

  After years in France she returns to Scotland. Her revenge plan is on, but a Highlander steers her from her purpose.

  Luke had only one dream; to become part of the Black Wolves, the elite guard of his clan. But the sudden appearance of a mysterious lass becomes a distraction. He can only think of their heated encounters and stolen kisses.

  Luke knows that she is hiding something, yet he doesn't push for the truth.

  Until the leader of his clan entrusts him with a mission; spy on Aileas and discover everything about her. The prize is a place in the Black Wolves.

  Now Luke must make a choice, either guard her secrets or go after his dream.

  How can Aileas get her revenge, if the man she loves betrays her trust? Unless she ruins him first...

  She thirsted for revenge, but love was her poison...

  Prologue

  Tears streaming down her face, ten-year-old Aileas sheltered behind a row of boxes in the paddocks. She hid just where her da had told her to hide. The horses inside whickered and whinnied in their stalls, stomping at the dirt. They were growing anxious. Outside, the world was chaos. Smoke, thick and cloying, filled the air, as did the screams of the dying and injured. Aileas clamped her hands over her ears, desperate to shut it out.

  The ring of steel on steel echoed through the night, making Aileas flinch every time. Aileas pressed her eye to the gap between two planks of the wooden wall of the barn. She watched as old Thom MacDonough, her da's stable master, swung his sword at a man much younger than him. Sparks flew when the steel crossed, and then the younger man lashed out with his foot.

  Old Thom doubled over as the kick caught him in the stomach and then toppled backward when the younger man kicked him in the face, the impact a dull, meaty thud. The younger man was on Old Thom before he'd even fallen, driving the point of his sword through his chest. Aileas clamped her hands over her mouth, doing her best to stifle the scream that filled her mouth.

  Her heart thundered in her chest, and her belly roiled like it was filled with greasy snakes. Aileas didn't know what was happening. All she knew was that her da had pulled her out of bed and made her hide where she was. After that, fire burst to life, making night turn to day, men poured out of the forest around their village, and then chaos and death had followed.

  Footsteps sounded at the head of the barn, filling her with a fear brighter than the fires that raged outside. Aileas shrank back against the wall, gripping the dagger her da had given her, though not quite sure how to use it. As the footsteps drew nearer, Aileas held the dagger out, dismayed by how wildly it shook in her trembling hand.

  A cry of relief burst from her throat when her older cousin Dand stepped around the boxes. His face was smeared with mud and soot, and a cut along his brow spilled blood down one side of his face, giving him a ghastly visage. Aileas leapt to her feet and threw her arms around him, clinging to him as tightly as a man lost at sea would cling to a piece of wood.

  Dand finally extricated himself from her grasp and stepped back. He knelt down, so he was looking her in the eye, and the grim expression on his face sent a shockwave of fear that rippled from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.

  "What’s happenin’ out there, Dand?”

  “Bad things, little’un,” he said. “Yer da sent me tae fetch ye.”

  “Where’s me da?”

  “Tryin’ to lead thae bad men away,” he replied. “He told me tae take ye down tae thae docks.”

  She shook her head. “Thae docks?” she asked. “Why does he want ye tae take me to thae docks?

  “He means for me tae get ye out of here.”

  “Get out of here? What are ye talkin’ about then?” she gasped. “This is me home. This is yer home.”

  Dand reached out and took her by her slender shoulders, looking her in the eye, something akin to agony on his face.

  “Our home’s lost, lass,” he said solemnly. “We need tae be away before we are tae.”

  Aileas shook her head, the tears spilling down her face faster. She did not want to hear his words. Did not want to believe them… even though the fires and the screams of pain and death outside told her the truth of it.

  “We need tae go before we cannae get out,” Dand insisted.

  “I daenae want tae go,” she snapped. “I want me da. I want me ma.”

  “They’ll meet us at thae docks, lass,” Dand replied. “Yer da told me so himself.”

  She could hear the lie in his words and see it on his face. Aileas’s heart beat a drunken, staccato rhythm in her chest, and a cold fist of fear squeezed her tight.

  “We need tae go, Aileas,” he said, his voice firm. “We need tae go now.”

  Despite everything in her trying to resist, Aileas let Dand lead her through the back of the barn and out to the treeline behind it. There, he had two horses saddled and ready to ride. She covered her mouth, trying to stifle her cough as she looked back at the buildings that surrounded the keep. Most of them were ablaze, and the heavens above seemed painted with the bright orange glow.

  She saw the silhouetted forms of people running about, some of them fighting, some of them dying, and some just running, trying to escape the slaughter. Th
e sound of a man screaming wildly drew her attention, and she looked up to see somebody being thrown off the ramparts of the keep. He disappeared from view thankfully, but the sudden silence of his screaming was unsettling. Even worse than his screaming had been. All around her, all Aileas could see was death, a sense of dread, and cold certainty stealing over her.

  She turned to Dand and looked him in the eye. “Me da and ma are dead, eh?”

  Dand looked away and said nothing, and it was all the answer Aileas needed. She nodded to herself and climbed up onto her horse. She was silent the entire ride, from the keep she had called home all her life, down to the docks. Once there, Dand led her to a large ship. Men were crawling all over it, looking like a mass of ants busy swarming a great wooden carcass, making ready to put out to sea.

  An older man she had seen in her father’s company from time to time stepped over to her, but she did not know him. All she recalled about him was a strong bond of friendship between him and her da. The man had long, iron-gray hair pulled back and tied, a thick, shaggy beard, a large, well-muscled body. He had dark eyes that were kind but sharp and probing. He gripped Dand by the forearm and gave him a grim nod.

  “I’ll look after her like she was me own,” he said, his voice a deep rumble.

  Dand nodded, then squatted down in front of her again, holding her gaze with his own. He looked angry but determined.

  “We’ll nae let this stand, Aileas,” he said. “Ye go with Logan. Learn from him. Let him teach ye. And when ye’re ready, ye come back here, and I’ll have men waitin’ tae take back what’s rightfully yers.”

  “I’m scared.”

  He nodded and gave her a gentle smile. “So am I. But we cannae let our fear rule us. We have tae master it,” he said. “Logan here’ll teach ye how. Learn all ye can and come back strong. And come back ready tae fight. Once ye dae, we’ll wipe out thae bleedin’ Pringle clan and take back yer birthright. On me honor, lass.”

  She threw herself into Dand’s arms, wrapping hers around the back of his neck, and squeezed him tight. He held her for a moment, then planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

  “Ye need tae go now. I imagine thae bleedin’ Pringle’s will be lookin’ for ye,” he said. “Ye need tae be away from here as fast as ye can.”

  “Come lass,” said Logan as he laid a massive, yet surprisingly gentle, hand on her shoulder.

  She let the man lead her to the boat as she watched Dand run back to the horses. She watched him mount up and gallop away quickly, making her heart lurch. Aileas had never felt more alone than she did at that moment.

  “Come lass,” Logan said softly. “We should get ye below.”

  Aileas shook her head. “Nay. This is me home,” she said, her voice suddenly sounding far older than her ten summers. “I need tae see it. I need tae bear witness tae the crimes that’ve been done upon me family.”

  “As ye wish,” he said. “Just take care tae stay out of thae way of me men.”

  Logan walked the deck of his ship, barking orders to his men. Having never been on a ship before, Aileas ordinarily would have been interested in watching how they went about their business. But at that moment, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the hill above this sheltered bay where her family’s keep stood, as it had for generations. The glow of the fires still reflected off the clouds above, and all she could think about was her ma and da being up there, among the dead. And it suddenly did not seem right or fair to her that she still lived.

  Logan stepped up beside her, leaning heavily against the railing. Though she did not know him, and he was a large, gruff, hard man, with many sharp edges to him, Aileas still somehow drew comfort from his presence. There was something about him that radiated kindness and gentleness you’d never guess by looking at him.

  He laid a hand on the top of her head. His eyes still fixed on the flames that licked the sky. His face was grim. Angry. But it was also determined, and when he looked down at her, his expression softened, and she saw grief etched into his features that mirrored her own.

  “Yer da was a good man. One of thae best I ever ken,” he said, his eyes shimmering with tears. “Believe me when I say I’ll teach ye right. I’ll give ye the tools ye need tae exact yer revenge and take back what’s yers.”

  Aileas nodded, his words the sweetest music in her ears. That was what she wanted more than anything in the world. Vengeance.

  Chapter One

  12 Years Later…

  “Please… please don’t kill me,” the Frenchman said.

  She rolled her eyes, a leonine grin touching her lips. She took off her red and black tricorn cap and mopped her brow with her sleeve. The man was on his knees, his wrists and ankles shackled. He looked terrified as she stood over him.

  “Why do you think I’d kill you?” she purred in his native tongue.

  “Y - you are La Renarde de la Mer,” he stammered. “You do not take prisoners. This is known.”

  She laughed as she shook her head and put her tricorn back on. The stories that went around about her and her crew were amusing. Her legend grew despite the fact that they had not actually done most of what they were known for. Oh, they’d had to commit many acts of violence before - that was part of the life. But they’d not done most of what they were accused of. It worked in her favor, so she was willing to let the stories spread and take on lives of their own. Ships she took were less likely to fight back when they believed they were facing a crew of bloodthirsty monsters wanting to do murder.

  “If this is known, then why would you ask me not to kill you?” she asked.

  Her crew laughed, one of them cuffing the French captain on the back of his head. A flash of anger touched his features but was quickly washed away by the tide of fear that gripped him. She held her sword up, the sun glinting off the thin, curved blade. The Frenchman’s eyes were wide, glued to the steel in her hand. With a small laugh, she slipped her blade back into its sheath on her hip.

  Aileas, also known as the notorious Sea Fox - or La Renarde de la Mer, in French - turned her head and looked at the burning hulk of the French ship floating on the starboard side of her own ship, a fifty-foot tri-masted carrack called The Red Selkie. A thick column of black smoke rose to the heavens, and on the horizon, three small dots suddenly appeared. Ships. French navy. No doubt coming to aid the ship that floated along, engulfed in flames.

  She turned to the captain and flashed him a vicious smile. “Just because I do not take prisoners does not mean I kill them either,” she said. “I’m a pirate. A businesswoman. Not a monster.”

  The man’s eyes widened, blossoming with hope as her crew chuckled. She gave a nod to Dougal, her first mate, and a man from her native Scotland. He grinned wide.

  “Over the side with this one, lads,” he bellowed.

  As they unbound the man, Aileas stepped to the rail of her ship and watched the sails on the horizon. They were definitely coming this way. She heard the Frenchman screaming behind her, followed by the splash of his body hitting the water. Her crew howled with laughter, hurling insults and pieces of garbage at the man. A small smile touched Aileas’s lips.

  She turned around and walked to the steps that led her up to the rear deck and the ship’s wheel. Conscious of the three other ships on their way, she stood at the railing and started barking orders to her crew. They had pillaged the Frenchman’s ship, taking everything of value - and as a merchant, he’d had much of value - before putting it to the torch.

  They usually didn’t destroy the ships they took. After all, having merchants sailing the seas was good for her. But the Frenchman’s crew had stupidly fought back and had bloodied one of her men. The ensuing fight had been fast and furiously messy. Most of the merchant’s crew had been killed, and those wise enough to surrender were now floating in the water with their captain.

  The wind filled the red and black sails with a loud snap, and Aileas tilted her head back, savoring the feel of the wind in her hair and the sun on her skin. She loved
being on the water. She loved the life she had built for herself out here, as far as she knew, the only female pirate captain on any sea, anywhere.

  After she had fled from her home, Logan had taught her the ways of the sea. Though Logan was a legitimate merchant, he’d been a pirate when he was younger. One of the most notorious to ever sail the ocean blue to hear some tell it. When he started to get older and found a woman he wanted to settle with, he went straight. He even had a family.