How to Blackmail a Highlander (The MacGregor Lairds) Read online

  The sweet warmth of hope raced through her, melting away the heartbroken ice that had lodged itself in her chest. She grabbed one of the sailors who scurried by.

  “Tell the captain he can’t leave yet.”

  The sailor looked at her as if she’d gone mad. “I canna do that, mistress. We’ve already left.”

  He pointed to the dock which was now several feet from the ship. She gasped in dismay and gripped the railing again, walking along it as the boat drew farther from shore so she could keep Philip in sight.

  Philip paced back and forth a few more times and then finally backed up a few feet, only to go charging back across the dock. Alice screamed as he dove off the dock. Several sailors ran to assist her, but she pushed them all out of the way as she searched the water for Philip.

  He bobbed back up near the rear of the ship, and Alice grasped the lapels of the sailor next to her. “Throw down a rope!”

  The man seemed so startled he didn’t even hesitate to follow her orders. Within a few minutes, they lowered a rope ladder. Philip had fallen farther behind but renewed his efforts at the sight of the ladder, his strong arms cutting through the water until he reached it.

  Alice nearly slumped onto the deck, her head spinning with relief when he hauled himself out of the sea. She hung over the railing as far as she dared so she could yell down to him.

  “What did you think you were doing? Are you completely mad?”

  “Aye! And freezing too. Find me a blanket!” he shouted back to her as he climbed his way up the ladder.

  She grasped his shirt as soon as he was close enough and pulled at him, though her efforts probably hindered more than helped him. The moment he was safely on deck, she threw her arms around him, not caring that freezing ocean water soaked her gown.

  His arms wrapped around her, and for a few seconds, she reveled in the blissful feel of his embrace.

  Until ten armed sailors surrounded him, shouting for him to step away from her and explain what the hell he was doing aboard their ship. He moved slowly away from her, his hands held up. She wanted to know the answer to that one, too, but he’d have to live long enough to tell her first.

  She stepped between him and their guns.

  “Alice!” he shouted, but she waved his protests away.

  “Put those guns down before you hurt someone!” she yelled. “He’s my…my…he’s…” She threw her hands up with an exasperated sigh. “He’s here for me. He’s not going to hurt me.”

  It took a few more minutes of shouting and arguing before the captain finally believed that the crazy man who’d invaded his ship meant no harm to anyone and ordered his men to stand down. One of them begrudgingly fetched a blanket for Philip, who wrapped it gratefully about his shoulders.

  Alice watched all this with impatience, and the moment they were alone on their little corner of the deck, she rounded on him.

  “You could have drowned! I don’t know what you think you were doing, but I’ve never seen anyone do something so reckless and dangerous and irresponsible and—”

  He laughed. “I think it’s a fair sight better than blackmailing a stranger into taking me across the border, so I can go live with an exiled highwayman and his lady.”

  Her mouth snapped shut. She couldn’t argue with that. “I still think you’re mad.”

  “Aye, I am,” he said. “But I’m no’ completely crazy. I grew up swimming in the loch by Glenlyon. Fell in once as a lad and my father made certain were it to happen again, I’d be able to save myself.”

  “Oh,” she said, some of the fight going out of her. But once her blood no longer raced with abject terror at his imminent and watery demise, she arched her brows and stepped back.

  “Philip. What are you doing here?”

  He dropped the blanket and came toward her until he was a few inches from her. Then he took her hands in his.

  Her heart jumped at his touch, and she warred between the urge to throw her arms around his neck or yank her hands from his grasp.

  “Do ye love me?” he asked.

  Her breath caught in her throat, and she searched his face for any sign of what he might be thinking. “Are you ill?” she finally asked. “Did your plunge into the ocean do some irreparable damage?”

  “I’m of utterly sound mind, mistress. Ye havena answered me.”

  “That question doesn’t deserve an answer.”

  “I ken that well. But I’m askin’ anyway.”

  She tried to pull her hands from his, and he let go of one, but only so he could brush a thumb across her cheek.

  “What are you doing, Philip?”

  “I’m trying to get the woman I love to admit she loves me, too.”

  Her heart tripped fast enough it made her suck in a breath. “What did you say?”

  “I love ye, Alice. I have from the first moment ye looked at me with those laughing, bonnie eyes of yers. Ye blackmailed yer way into my life, and now I find I am yer very willing captive. I want ye with me, as my wife. At my home…well, on my land. I’d have to build ye a home, but I’d build ye one as grand as ye wished if it took me all of my days. Or perhaps at Kirkenroch, or at Glenlyon, or even in London if that’s where ye wish to go.”

  “You’re willing to go to London?”

  He grimaced but said, “Aye.”

  “That’s a bit impulsive of you, isn’t it?”

  Amusement shone from her eyes, and his lips twitched. “Aye. But then, when ye ken something is right, there’s no reason to waste a lot of time thinking too long on it.”

  She’d believed that once, too. And she wanted to believe him. Wanted to believe in this new outlook he seemed to have. But…

  “You weren’t wrong, you know.”

  His brow furrowed, and he tilted his head in question.

  “We are too different. You were right. About that and all of it. So, what’s changed?”

  He pulled her closer. “What’s changed is I dinna care.”

  “You don’t?”

  He shrugged. “I care only that ye are with me the rest of my days. The rest we can figure out. Everyone has problems they must work through. It’s what makes life interesting.”

  “Is that so?” she asked with a laugh.

  “Aye. So, I’ll ask ye again, my lady. Do ye love me?”

  She bit her lip, wanting so badly to say yes, but fearing it all the same.

  “I’ll probably never do as you bid me.”

  He chuckled. “Aye, I didna think ye would.”

  “I’ll probably keep making impulsive decisions that will land me in trouble.”

  “Then I’ll have to keep ye by my side so whatever trouble finds ye finds me, too.”

  She gave him a tremulous smile that grew as she looked into his deep blue eyes. “I’ll probably love you until the day I die. And perhaps long after that.”

  The smile he gave her spread a warmth through her soul that would never fade. He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up. She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck as his lips met hers.

  Someone cleared his throat, and Alice managed to untangle herself from Philip enough to look around and notice a small audience had grown while the man she loved had kissed her silly.

  “Is everything all right, my lady?” the captain asked.

  Alice stood at Philip’s side, hands clasped and eyes shining with happiness.

  “Everything is wonderful,” Alice said.

  “Captain, if you and yer crew wouldna mind standing witness for us…”

  The captain looked puzzled but nodded.

  “I, Philip Michael Alexander MacGregor, proclaim in front of these witnesses that I love the Lady Alice…”

  He glanced at her, and she laughed. “Beatrice.” Then she leaned into him and whispered, “Isn’t this rather impulsive?”

  “Aye, ’tis, and it’s high time I did something impulsive,” he whispered back. Then to the bewildered audience crowding around them, he continued. “I love the Lady Alice Beatr
ice Chivers and claim her as my wedded wife.”

  All eyes turned to Alice, but she had eyes only for Philip. “And I, Lady Alice Beatrice Chivers, proclaim in front of these witnesses that I love Mr. Philip Michael Alexander MacGregor and claim him as my wedded husband.”

  The sailors erupted in cheers and applause.

  Alice laughed and stood on her toes so she could kiss her chosen husband.

  “Oh!” she said, pushing away from Philip.

  “What is it, lass?” he asked with a slight frown.

  “We are on a ship headed to London. I’d hoped to return to Kirkenroch, but Mary… I have to make sure she’s all right.”

  “Ye were going to return?” He laughed softly. “Remind me to thank Elizabet for leaving that bit of information out.”

  Alice grinned. “She didn’t tell you?”

  Philip shook his head and pulled her back into his arms. “Well, no matter. As for London, I suppose ye should introduce yer husband to yer family. This time ye can say a proper goodbye. And perhaps invite them to visit, should they wish. And should we find yer sister to be in any danger, we’ll whisk her away with us.”

  “You’d turn kidnapper for me?”

  “Aye, lass. I’d do that and worse. Though perhaps we’ll just invite ourselves to stay with the happily wedded couple and ensure that yer sister stays happy.”

  Alice raised an eyebrow. “For how long?”

  “As long as she needs us.”

  Alice cupped her husband’s face in her hands, her heart overflowing. She reached up to kiss him again, sinking in to him as his lips met hers.

  And this time Alice knew that irregular or not, their marriage was built to last.

  Epilogue

  Alice shook her head, watching as her husband meticulously repacked every single item the staff at Oxenwald Court, her sister’s new country estate, had already packed.

  “There was nothing wrong with that trunk,” she pointed out.

  “There’s no harm in making things a wee bit neater,” Philip said.

  Alice laughed and wandered back to the window. Mary was still walking in the gardens below, her skirts billowing next to the brightly hued flowers and plants. A young gentleman walked beside her.

  Philip joined her at the window. “Are ye sure Mary willna need ye? We can stay longer if ye wish.”

  Alice shook her head and leaned back against him. “My concerns for her ceased the day Woolsmere died. She’s a wealthy widow now, free to do as she wishes.”

  “Aye, but with her husband’s kinsman inheriting the title…will there be any issues with her inheritance? After all, they were married less than a week before he died.”

  “The contracts were signed and the marriage was blessed in church before dozens of witnesses. Her inheritance is secure. And so is she now. Mary still has this estate and a great deal of money. Besides,” she said, nodding in the direction of Mary and the new Lord Woolsmere, “he is a very distant kinsman. And a young and handsome one at that. Perhaps Mary will yet bear an heir for the Woolsmere estate.”

  Philip snorted and Alice laughed. “In the meantime, she is free of her despicable husband, and with her new wealth and status, she can live her life as she sees fit. Which means I can as well.”

  “And ye wish to return to Scotland, do ye? Now that yer parents have forced me to wed ye good and proper in the kirk in front of a proper reverend.”

  “Oh, forced was it?”

  “Well, they did keep things rather hushed, though I suppose that stands to reason, as we’d already said we were wed.”

  “True, but having things done proper with all the right contracts signed and registered made them feel much better about everything. Thank you for indulging them. Forced though you were.”

  “Aye, well, maybe there wasna so much force as all that needed,” he said with a wink.

  “Um hmm.”

  “Especially since they generously offered to release yer dowry as was right and proper and oof—”

  Alice’s elbow connected with his midsection, and he broke off in a grunt that turned into a chuckle.

  “Dinna fash, wife. Wild boars couldna have kept me from wedding ye, no matter how many times I must do so.”

  It was such comments that turned her insides to goo and made her want to follow him to the ends of the earth and back. She brought her hand up to cup his face and rose on her toes to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “Who would have thought you’d have turned into such a willing bridegroom?”

  “Aye,” he said with a satisfied sigh. “Well, ye do liven up my days, I’ll give ye that.” He hugged her tightly to him.

  She cuddled into him, though she turned her head so she could continue to watch her sister. She wanted nothing more than to be Philip’s wife and build a home and family with him. But she would miss her family.

  “Are ye sure ye wish to return to Scotland?” he asked her again.

  “Aye,” Alice said, turning in his arms. “My family here is settled. I’d like to go back, be near Elizabet. And I still worry for Rose. There’s been no word yet…”

  “That doesna mean they havena returned. Only that word hasn’t reached us here.”

  “I know. But what if they haven’t returned yet? What if something has happened to them both? I would like to be close in case I’m needed. Rose risked much for me and mine.”

  “Then return we shall.”

  She smiled up at him. “Besides, I know it’s where your heart truly lies.”

  “Nay, lass,” Philip said, running a gentle finger down her cheek. “My heart lies with ye, wherever ye may be.”

  Her heart filled near to bursting, and she shook her head, laughing at herself for turning into such a sap. “Then let’s go back to Scotland, husband. It’s where we belong.”

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  Acknowledgments

  My eternal thanks to my wonderful editor, Erin Molta, who I will always consider my personal fairy godmother. You made my dreams come true and then you helped me make them publishable. I am unbelievably blessed to work with such an amazing editor who cares not only for my books but also keeping me sane while I write them. “Thank you” will never seem sufficient, but I’m going to keep saying it. Huge thanks also to my incredible Entangled team: Alethea Spiridon, you are the goddess. Always. And to Riki Cleveland, my publicists, and everyone at Entangled, I am always blown away by how much effort you put into making each book a success. I am so grateful to be able to work with you all! Sarah Ballance, life has thrown us a few loops and these crazy schedules of ours make me miss you like crazy, but you will always be my #creepytwin! Minus the horror movies because I am terrified just listening to you talk about them! Toni Kerr, thank you for your never-ending support! My sweet family, you are my everything. I hope I make you proud. And to my readers, you make it possible for me to do what I love, and I am humbled and grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you!!

  About the Author

  Romance and nonfiction author Michelle McLean is a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl who is addicted to chocolate and Goldfish crackers and spent most of her formative years with her nose in a book. She has a B.S. in History, a M.A. in English, loves history and romance, and enjoys spending her time combining the two in her novels.

  When Michelle’s not editing, reading, or chasing her kids around, she can usually be found in a quiet corner working on her next book. She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children, a massively overgrown puppy, two crazy parakeets, and three very spoiled cats. She also writes contemporary romance as Kira Archer.

  Discover the MacGregor Lairds series…

  How to Lose a Highlander

  How to Ensnare a Highlander

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  A Bandit’s Stolen Heart

  A Bandit’s
Broken Heart

  A Bandit’s Betrayed Heart

  Romancing the Rumrunner

  Wish Upon a Star

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