Her Own Highland Laird - Chapter Seven

"Laird McKenzie was a soldier here for my father. He was in the army ever since he was eleven. He started training when Colin did too. They both became close friends. I didn’t know who he was until one day when I was running away from my nanny’s wrath. She was mad at me for not listening to her. I ran in circles and circles and my nanny would run after me trying to catch a hold of my skirt. She would shout, ‘Annabella Jamie McAllister! You will stop this nonsense this instant! Your father would be displeased with you. You are to be a lady!’ I would only just giggle and shout back, ‘Well then, Nanny! I will not be a lady then!’ I thought to tire my nanny out with this running but turns around I ran straight into a hard chest." Annabella looked at Brenda with a smile.

"That was the first time I met Laird McKenzie. I bumped into him and he simply stared at me. I smiled at him and made a curtsied but he gave me an incredulous look and said, ‘Watch where you are going.’ I immediately frowned. He was rude and obnoxious but I ever since that time it seems I couldn’t stop thinking about him."

"You liked him, right?" Brenda smiled at her sister in law.

"Yes I did." Annabella blushed. "I didn’t mean him again after that last encounter but when I did it was when I was climbing an apple tree to hide from the guards that were following me around but after climbing I found it hard to get back down with the dress I was wearing. I waited and waited up in the apple tree until I heard someone calling out my name. I called out that I was up in the apple tree and when he appeared from under me I saw that it was Malcolm. He grunted his disapproval and told me to slowly let go and let myself fall into his arms. At first, I would not do such thing but then I reluctantly agreed after because he said that if I don’t do it he will leave me up in the tree." She then wrinkled her nose and said, "Stubborn as a mule."

Brenda burst out laughing. Her sister in law was funny fighting with her feelings for him and at the same time knowing she is in love with Malcolm. Brenda thought this was so sweet. They really do look good together.

"And when I dropped into his arms, I swear he looked like an angel. Ever since then, I started following him around even when he was training. He thought I was an annoying brat well at least that is what he calls me but then one day I heard that he had to go away. My heart nearly stopped, I didn’t want him to go. I had fallen in love with him. So I ran outside to see him for the last time again he was already standing by the drawbridge looking at me while I was running. His face was grim but after those years that I have known him I knew he was trying his hardest not to show his feelings. I jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back. I had asked him where he was going he answered back with, ‘I’ll come back, I promise.’ And soon after he did come back but he came with an army each time he visited but when he did visit he didn’t have time to see me or talk to me. We would see each other occasionally in the hallways but he would quickly be distracted by a soldier asking him that my father wanted to talk to him or my brother wanted to talk to him. I never had a chance to talk to him but each time I see him my heart seems to beat again, as if it is calling out to him." Annabella eyes softened and she sighed.

"That’s beautiful…" Brenda said speechlessly.

"That is…" Ramsey said from behind them. Brenda abruptly turned around forgetting that he was behind them.

"Ramsey, why is that you have to follow us?" Brenda asked again and bent down to pick a herb off the ground to put in her basket.

"Colin had ordered me. I am only protecting you, Milady." Ramsey answered her.

"Will you stop calling me ‘milady’ I feel old. My name is Brenda, Ramsey." She grinned at him. He chuckled softly and agreed.

They didn’t know how long they were in the woods but soon they heard hoof beats and Brenda and Annabella looked up to look at who it was. Her husband and Malcolm were riding towards them. Brenda looked at her husband and she couldn’t help but admire his strong features. He had the beautiful eyes ever even when he was glaring at her. She smiled at him and she could see a hint of a smile coming from the corner of his lip.

When they came nearer Annabella leaned over to Brenda, "Isn’t he the handsomest man alive." She whispered.

"Colin is the most handsome man alive." Brenda smiled sweetly.

"No, I was talking about Malcolm." Annabella giggled.

Brenda sighed. "Oh, I thought you meant Colin." They both sighed and laughed at their foolishness.

Colin came in to see that his wife and his sister were again enjoying themselves. Malcolm grinned at Annabella. "Have you two gathered enough herbs?"

Anna and Brenda looked in their baskets and found that they only gathered a few. "Oh my, we must have forgotten about it. We had such a wonderful time talking amongst each other." Brenda giggled and Anna followed suit.

Brenda stood up and took hold of Annabella’s hand to get up and start picking again. Colin got off his horse and tied it to a tree. Malcolm did the same and the followed the ladies around the woods. Malcolm was with Annabella but they weren’t far away from Brenda and Colin.

Brenda bent down to pick up another plant on the ground and put it in her basket. Colin carefully observed Brenda’s backside. She was small and petit but her height almost reached his shoulders. She was tall for a woman and her long black hair reached to her waist. He wanted to run his hand through it and see if it was as silky as it looks.

"Colin, how was your hunting?" Brenda asked him as she walked around observing plants.

"It went well, we caught ourselves some good food for the next week." Colin answered her.

"That’s wonderful!" She smiled at him before continuing.

"Wife, why do you look so happy?" Colin asked finally perked.

"Oh, Colin that reminds me how do you like Malcolm?" She asked casually but Colin could tell this question was important to her.

"He’s my friend." Colin answered her vaguely.

"Well…is he kind and generous?" Brenda prodded.

"He is." Colin was not curious.

"Tell me more about him." Brenda pleaded.

"You don’t need to know anything about Malcolm except that he is my friend." He found himself paranoid that his wife found interest in another man. Brenda let him know she didn’t appreciate his reply by giving him a good hard stare before returning to her picking.

Meanwhile, Malcolm was trailing after Annabella who was blabbering off about something he couldn’t remember. It had something to do with something she ate the other night that was wonderful…or was it about something the cook made? He couldn’t remember what she was talking about. He was too busy looking at her. She had grown into a woman…a beautiful attractive woman. The years he had come to see her she had grown more and more womanly. He had noticed right away the curves on her body that was forming and especially in her front. He also notices how luscious and attractive her lips were. She had long blonde hair that she had it braid back to remove it around her face but some loose trends of hair had come loose and flow slowly around her face and he found the urge to smooth it back.

"So, what do you think Malcolm?" Annabella asked him. He snapped out of his thought.

"Oh…well…I don’t…" Malcolm tried to remember what she had said earlier.

"You weren’t listening." She pouted at him before turning her back on him and continues picking in silence.

"I’m sorry, I was distracted." He admitted. She turned to look at him and walked closer to him. He felt uneasy because now he can see how beautiful her eyes were.

"Distracted by what?" She said softly and licked her lips unconsciously. His groin tightened. God, she was beautiful and tempting.

"Well, I-" Malcolm found it hard to talk. Her voice was husky and it was making him delirious.

"What’s wrong with you, Malcolm? You look as if you saw something." She asked.

Of course he did. She was having this effect on him. She was his problem…but then he felt a different presence in the shadows. His senses immediately come alert.

"Quiet, Belle." He said the pet name he had given her. It was the first time he said it in a long time. She looked at him and knew he was serious. So she stopped and listens and then she did hear it too.

Brenda and Colin had now moved to their side and they also have heard it. Ramsey was there as well protecting his mistress. "What is it?" Brenda whispered.

"Something is wrong." Colin murmured. "Ramsey takes your mistress and Annabella back now." They slowly backed up to their horses but before they knew it nomads jumped out of the bushes as they attack. Colin and Malcolm roar as they fought the five nomads that attack them.

Ramsey pulled them to the horses. "Get on." He ordered. Brenda nodded but before she could get on Ramsey was attacked by three other nomads. She panicked and felt under her skirt for a knife that she secretly hid. There she remembered what her brother’s had told her. To breathe steadily and throw and her first throw hit one in the chest knocking him dead on the ground. Ramsey continued to fight the other two and she was about to grab another one of her knife that was on her other leg when all of a sudden Anna let out a cry in pain. She turned around to see a nomad drag her away. Colin must of saw his sister being attacked because he instantly stabbed the nomad that was attacking him in the stomach and then continue to move toward his sister.

Brenda’s heart beat faster. She needed to make this swift and quick at the same time keep Colin’s sister out of the way. "Don’t do anything to her." Brenda said through gritted teeth.

"Shut up or I will kill her. Give me that horse and get on top of it." He sneered. Brenda waited till his guard was down before she instantly whipped her hand up and threw the knife. It hit him straight in the head and his eyes rolled up as he fell to the ground. Annabella let out a scream as she saw that the guy had died. She ran to Brenda and hugged her. Brenda turned to look at Colin who stabbed the last nomad in the stomach. He walked up to her.

"Is she ok?" He asked. Brenda nodded and she began to shake furiously.

"Thank you, Lady McAllister. Your aim is true. Who taught you to aim so well?" Malcolm took Annabella into his arms to calm his nerves. When he saw Annabella being taken away his heart almost stopped.

"My brothers." She whispered and she quivered. She didn’t know that she was crying until Colin had taken her into his arms.

"Its ok, Brenda." Colin soothed and lightly smoothed her hair away from her face.

"I never killed a man before." Brenda admitted.

Ramsey walked up to his mistress. "You will have to teach me your secret to your aim. It was true and beautiful. You killed them instantly in one hit and you saved Annabella…and me…" He was instantly loyal to his mistress. He would whatever in his power to protect his mistress from harm.