The Ghost Read online

  Praise for MONICA MCCARTY and her New York Times and USA Today bestselling Highland Guard series!

  “Against a richly historical and violent backdrop, McCarty deftly weaves a surprisingly moving love story that demands a skillful writer’s touch. Her exquisite prose makes this a book readers will treasure.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “The characters leap off the pages and into your heart. With a stunning plot that has enough twists and turns in all the right places, McCarty has created yet another captivating story that is sure to please!”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Passion and politics abound in this exceptionally well-researched romance that skillfully interweaves fiction with history and sheds new light on a particularly fascinating and violent time.”

  —Library Journal

  “Readers who deplore ‘wallpaper historicals’ will appreciate not only the romance but McCarty’s efforts to go beyond the superficialities of historical Scotland.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Spectacularly entertaining. . . . McCarty is a master of blending fact and fiction.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “One of those amazing books that captures your attention right from the get-go. . . . McCarty has written a tale fit for a king.”

  —Coffee Time Romance

  “Thoroughly enjoyable. . . . Cleverly interwoven plot twists . . . kept me on my toes!”

  —The Romance Reviews

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  To all the readers who have been with me from The Chief to The Ghost—thank you!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  WHEN I FIRST came up with the idea for “Special Ops in Kilts” (which is how I initially pitched the Highland Guard series), finishing twelve books seemed a long way away. Now, six years since the publication of The Chief in 2010, and I can’t believe it’s all over. Writing this series was pretty much a dream come true. I’ll never forget sitting in Bella Andre’s living room with Jami Alden (my critique partners) circa 2003, and telling them all about my “big” idea. It took me a while to feel confident enough to take on such a large project, but fifty single-spaced pages of an outline for all twelve books later, and I was ready. Getting it ready for you guys, however, took a lot of additional firepower.

  Thanks, as always, to my fabulous agents, Annelise Robey and Andrea Cirillo at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, who believed in this project from the start. Thanks also to Kate Collins and the rest of the team at Random House for getting the series going, and to Lauren McKenna, Elana Cohen, Nancy Tonik, Faren Bachelis, and the rest of the editorial and production team at Simon & Schuster for finishing the series with such a fantastic bang. I feel extremely fortunate to have had such wonderful and talented people to work with over the years, and Lauren, I am really looking forward to what comes next.

  I think I must hold the record for fabulous covers. All my covers have been fantastic, but a huge thanks to the art department at Simon & Schuster for putting a fresh twist on the last three, and for really capturing the tone and mood of the story—not to mention some rather exceptional, um, inspiration.

  Finally, to the most important part of this endeavor, the readers who have made twelve books possible and enabled me to complete the series—thank you! Without your support, getting to The Ghost would not have been possible. If you have enjoyed reading these books half as much as I have enjoyed writing them, I’ll consider it a great success.

  The acknowledgments wouldn’t be complete without a reference to my family. Dave, Reid, and Maxine, I could say something sappy, but you guys wouldn’t believe me—which is why I love you.

  THE HIGHLAND GUARD

  TOR “CHIEF” MACLEOD: Team Leader and Expert Swordsman

  ERIK “HAWK” MACSORLEY: Seafarer and Swimmer

  LACHLAN “VIPER” MACRUAIRI: Stealth, Infiltration, and Extraction

  ARTHUR “RANGER” CAMPBELL: Scouting and Reconnaissance

  GREGOR “ARROW” MACGREGOR: Marksman and Archer

  MAGNUS “SAINT” MACKAY: Survivalist and Weapon Forging

  KENNETH “ICE” SUTHERLAND: Explosives and Versatility

  EOIN “STRIKER” MACLEAN: Strategist in “Pirate” Warfare

  EWEN “HUNTER” LAMONT: Tracker and Hunter of Men

  ROBERT “RAIDER” BOYD: Physical Strength and Hand-to-Hand Combat

  THOM “ROCK” MACGOWAN: Climber

  ALSO:

  HELEN “ANGEL” MACKAY (NÉE SUTHERLAND): Healer

  JOAN “GHOST” COMYN: Spy

  FOREWORD

  THE YEAR OF our Lord thirteen hundred and fourteen . . . Robert the Bruce’s war with England for the Scottish throne has reached a crucial juncture with nothing less than the freedom of a nation hanging in the balance.

  For eight years, since the disastrous defeat at Methven that had him fleeing his kingdom as an outlaw, Bruce has avoided meeting the English in a pitched battle, army to army. Instead, he and the elite warriors of the Highland Guard have waged a “secret war,” using pirate tactics of raids, ambuscade, and trickery to defeat his enemies—both English and Scot—and clear most of Scotland’s important castles of their English garrisons.

  But it isn’t enough. Without a decisive victory in battle signaling God’s judgment, Bruce’s claim to the throne will not be recognized by England or the rest of Christendom. One day Bruce will have to take the field. But with the English army once again readying to march on Scotland, he must decide whether that day is now.

  As the armies muster and prepare for what might be one of the greatest battles of all time, Bruce will once again rely on the secret warriors of his Highland Guard—both present and past.

  PROLOGUE

  Hagerstown Castle, Northumberland, England, late September 1306

  IT WAS A horrible, wicked lie! And had she not been eavesdropping on the two tiring women retained by her father to watch over her, Joan Comyn would have told them exactly that.

  It couldn’t be true. No knight could do that to a woman. Not even Edward of England, the self-proclaimed “Hammer of the Scots,” could be so cruel and barbaric.

  Could he?

  A fresh stab of panic plunged through her chest. Though she never cried, her eyes prickled with tears as she slipped out of the alcove where she had been reading a book and trod soundlessly down the winding staircase of the castle that served as their temporary lodgings in the north of England. She wanted to put her hands over her ears to block out the offending words echoing in her head. Punish . . . traitor . . . cage.

  No! Her heart raced and thudded wildly as she ran across the spacious Hall—ignoring all the curious faces that turned to stare at her—to her father’s private solar. She pushed open the big oak door and burst into the room. “It can’t be true!”

  Her father’s frown was dark and forbidding enough to make her start. She sobered, cursing herself for forgetting to knock. John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, hated to be disturbed, and though her father rarely turned his terrifying temper on her, the threat alone made her heart beat a little faster.

  “You forget yourself, daughter. What is the meaning of this? As you can see”—he gestured to the half-dozen knights and barons seated around the table—“I am very busy.”

  She was instantly contrite. Clasping her hands before her, Joan bowed her head and did her best to look modest and respectful—the two qualities her father valued in women (and twelve-year-old girls who hadn’t yet reached womanhood).

  She l
ifted big eyes to his pleadingly. “Please, Father, I’m sorry to interrupt. But I heard something . . .” She lowered her voice, knowing well the risk in uttering the words. “About Mother.”

  She quickly looked down again, but not before seeing the bolt of rage strike her father’s handsome features. In the best of moments, her father was irrational on the subject of his soon-to-be-set-aside wife, and in the worst he could become belligerent and unpredictable.

  The room went deathly quiet. Tension and discomfort were thick in the air.

  “Leave us,” her father said sharply to his men.

  They were only too eager to do his bidding, shuffling out quickly without looking at her. Not one of them would meet her eyes.

  Her stomach dropped. Oh God, what if it was true?

  Tears burning behind her eyes, she looked up at the man seated behind the large table. She would never have described him as warm and loving, but the cold, angry, bitter man he’d become over the past six months was nearly unrecognizable.

  “If you speak of the treacherous bitch’s punishment”—she flinched at the crude word no matter how many times he said it—“it is undoubtedly true.”

  Whatever blood Joan had left in her body drained to the floor. She swayed, lowering herself to the recently vacated bench opposite her father to prevent her legs from giving out. “But it can’t be. I heard them say that she’s been imprisoned in a cage high atop the ramparts at Berwick Castle . . . like an animal.”

  Her father’s gaze hardened, his eyes two pinpricks of onyx with the unmistakable shiny gleam of malice. “It is true.”

  Horror made her forget herself. “But that is barbaric! Who could have thought of such a thing? You must do something to help her! The king will listen to you.”

  Even in England, the Scottish Earl of Buchan was not without considerable influence. Her mother, too, was important in her own right. Isabella MacDuff was the daughter of the previous Earl of Fife and the sister of the current earl—one of Scotland’s most ancient and revered families. It was inconceivable that King Edward of England could punish any woman like this, but a lady—a countess—of her mother’s position . . . surely her father would be able to put a stop to it?

  His face turned florid and his eyes sparked with an unholy fervor.

  Joan shrank back in the face of the temper she had unwittingly unleashed.

  “I won’t do a damned thing! The whore is getting no better than she deserves for what she’s done.”

  Joan’s throat choked with tears. She’s not a whore! She wanted to scream in protest, but fear held her tongue.

  Perhaps guessing her thoughts, he slammed his fist down on the table. The whole room seemed to shake—including her. “As if putting a crown upon the head of her lover wasn’t enough, she is said to have taken the most notorious pirate in the Western Isles to her bed. Lachlan MacRuairi,” he bit out disgustedly, spittle foaming in the corners of his mouth. “A bastard and a brigand. If she’s being confined like an animal, it is because that is what the rutting bitch deserves.”

  Joan loved her mother more than anyone in the world. She refused to believe what they said about her. They were lies meant to discredit her and explain what people thought was unnatural bravery in a woman. They needed an explanation for how a woman would dare defy not only her husband, but the most powerful king in Christendom to crown a “rebel” king.

  But Robert Bruce had been like a brother to her mother—not a lover. As for Lachlan MacRuairi . . . Joan remembered the scary warrior who had appeared in her chamber in the middle of the night not long after her mother had left Balvenie Castle for Scone to crown Bruce to explain why she’d been unable to take Joan with her as she’d wanted to. He had been in charge of the guardsmen sent for her mother’s protection, that was all.

  “She will freeze to death,” Joan whispered weakly, probing for any ounce of mercy that might remain for the woman he’d been married to for thirteen years. The woman he’d loved so much he could barely let her out of his sight and always had her under guard to keep her safe.

  At least that’s what Joan had thought before. But maybe it was what her mother had wanted her to think. More and more, Joan was beginning to realize that something hadn’t been right in her parents’ marriage—that something wasn’t right with her father—and her mother had tried to prevent her from seeing it. What Joan thought had been love didn’t feel like love anymore. It felt like rabid possessiveness, control, and jealousy.

  “Let her freeze,” her father said. “If I had my way, I’d see her hanging from the gibbet. I told Edward as much, but the king is reluctant to execute a woman—even one who is deserving. Instead she will serve as a warning, a reminder to all who might think to support the usurping ‘King Hood.’ ”

  It was the name the English had given Robert the Bruce—the outlaw king. Nothing had been heard of Bruce and his followers in weeks. They were said to have fled to the Western Isles. They were hunted men. How long would it be before King Edward caught up with them?

  Joan knew that help for her mother’s predicament would not come from that direction. Robert Bruce and his men were too busy trying to save their own lives to rescue her mother.

  Nay, it was up to her. If anyone could help her mother it was she. Her father cared for her, the “beautiful” girl who so resembled him. She had to get through to him, even if it made him angry.

  Joan might be quiet and reserved, but she wasn’t a coward. She had the blood of two of Scotland’s most important earldoms running through her veins. Taking a deep breath, she tried to clear the tears from her throat and lifted her eyes to meet his. “I know you think she betrayed you, Father, but she was only doing what she thought was right.”

  “What was right?” her father exploded, jumping to his feet with enough force to cause the bench he’d been seated on to fall back with a resounding crash. Circling around the table, he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to her feet. “How dare you try to defend her!”

  Maybe she was a coward after all, because she was scared now. “I w-wasn’t—”

  But he was deaf to her pleas. “I will show you what is ‘right’ lest you be tempted to follow in your whore of a mother’s treasonous footsteps. I wanted to spare you from this, but now I see that my coddling has only served to confuse you about where your loyalty lies. A daughter of Buchan—a Comyn—will never see anything right about a Bruce on a throne.”

  He dragged her across the Hall. One look at his face was enough to turn even the most curious of gazes in the other direction. She tried to calm him down, tried to apologize, but he was too angry to listen.

  The cold blast of autumn air penetrated through the wool of her gown as he pushed open the door and pulled her down the stairs. He called for horses, which were quickly brought forward.

  She realized what he meant to do. “No, Father, please. Don’t take me there. I don’t want to see—”

  “Not another word,” he bit out angrily. “You will do my bidding or I will see you punished with the lash. Would that I’d taken it to your mother and flogged the defiance out of her. We might have avoided this dishonor and blight upon our family.”

  Joan’s eyes widened in disbelief. A lash? Her father had never raised a hand to her. But whatever regard he had for her had been forgotten by her defense of her mother. Not doubting that he meant what he said, she stopped protesting as he tossed her up onto a horse and they rode through the Northumbrian countryside the five miles to Berwick Castle.

  By the time they passed through the gate, Joan had never been in such a state of misery in her life. She hadn’t spoken a word since they left. Her father seemed a stranger—a dark, angry tyrant like the English king he defended.

  It was dusk, and since she’d been forced from the manor house without a hooded cloak or gloves, her hands and ears were frozen.

  What must it be like atop the tower in a cage?

  She shivered or shuddered—maybe both.

  Oh God, she couldn’t do this
! To see her mother suffering so horribly . . .

  But any thought she had of pleading with him one more time fled as he plucked her off of her horse. Their eyes met, and she knew he was beyond reason.

  She kept her head down as long as she could. But eventually, amid the crowd of gaping onlookers, her father ordered her to look.

  She forgot her fear long enough to beg. “Please, Father, don’t make me—”

  “Look, God damn you!” He grabbed her chin and forced her gaze up to the ramparts. “See what happens to traitors and whores who betray their family to support false kings.”

  For a moment her mind refused to let her see the horror and barbarity of the sight before her. But the self-protective blindness could only last so long. Like the specters of a nightmare, the shapes began to materialize through the hazy mist of nightfall.

  The wood latticed bars . . . the iron frame . . . the tiny square of a prison that was barely enough space to stand and open to the elements and the scorn of onlookers.

  No! An involuntary cry escaped her lips as she saw a movement inside the cage. “Mother!” she sobbed, lunging toward the tower as if she would free her. Every instinct in her body screamed to go to her. To do something. To put an end to this travesty. How could they do this to anyone? How could her mother possibly survive? Oh, Mother, I’m so sorry!

  But she’d barely taken a few steps before her father caught her and pulled her away. She started to scream and kick, but he quieted her with a warning. “You are only making it worse. Do you want her to hear you? Do you think she wants you to see her like this?”

  She knew her father was only trying to prevent a scene—he didn’t care about her mother’s feelings—but it worked. Somehow she knew that it would kill her mother to know her daughter had been forced to stand witness to her suffering.

  But she couldn’t give up. She had to do something. Her mother needed her.