Page 57 of My Notorious Highlander

Annoyance twisted through Haldane. "Wee brother, you don't have the stones to be chief. Dirk is an imposter. And Jessie is a woman. I'm the only one left."

Aiden shook his head, his thin sandy hair blowing in the mountain breeze. "Are you still lying to yourself about Dirk? He is Da's oldest son. I remember him very clearly from before he disappeared."

"Nay." Haldane knew good and well Dirk was who he claimed to be, but he loved keeping up the pretense as his ma had always done. Besides, Dirk didn't deserve acknowledgement as a MacKay. "Dirk has to die. He murdered our mother, Aiden! Don't you remember?"

"He didn't murder her. He killed her in self-defense."

"Ha. That mountain of a man felt the need to kill our scrawny old mother in self-defense?"

"She poisoned Isobel and me and almost killed us both!"

"Not intentionally, not in your case anyway."

"Ma tried to have Dirk murdered several times. Don't you remember, she hired McMurdo to shove him off a cliff thirteen years ago?"

Haldane smirked and glanced aside at McMurdo. The man with the long gray hair and scarred, wrinkled face narrowed his black eyes, his menacing gaze moving back and forth between him and Aiden. 'Twas a sore point with him that he hadn't succeeded in a job he'd been paid a thousand pounds to accomplish.

"And 'tis a job he is determined to finish, aye, McMurdo?" Haldane asked.

He gave a brief nod and continued sharpening his sword.

"Nay," Aiden said, his eyes widening. "You're getting McMurdo to kill Dirk?"

"Of course. He's the best man for the job."

Studying Haldane, Aiden shook his head. "You've become just like Ma."

"If you mean canny and brilliant, aye." Haldane smiled. "I'm glad you came to visit me. Now, I can convince Erskine and the guards to open the gates."

"Wrong. They won't do it."

"Then you'll die, too, along with Dirk and anyone else who gets in my way."

"What happened to you, brother? You didn't used to be like this."

"I came to my senses. That's what." Fury rampaged through Haldane's veins. "If you'd had the gall to stand up and be chief as Ma wanted, I wouldn't have been forced to do this. I supported you. I would've helped you. But, nay. You wished to give it all up to Dirk."

"Dirk is the best chief this clan could possibly have. I'm not suited to it and neither are you."

"I'll be as great a chief as Da was."

"You are mad."

"Indeed!" Haldane grinned. "Madness suits me, does it not, McMurdo?"

He nodded.

Fear lit in Aiden's eyes when he watched McMurdo. Haldane was glad. He knew Aiden didn't fear him. But he should. He didn't want to kill Aiden, but if he was all that stood between Haldane and the chiefdom, he would do it.

In the meantime, he would use him to get inside the gates of Dunnakeil. No way in hell would Erskine, Jessie, and the rest of them allow Aiden to be killed.

"You should give it up, Haldane. You'll never succeed at this."

"There's where you're wrong, wee brother."

"You'll get yourself killed. If you want to live, you should go south and stay there."

Haldane gave a bitter laugh. "I've been south. Dunnakeil is my home and I mean to claim it, no matter the cost."