Highlander Unchained

Informationen zum Autor Monica McCarty’s interest in the Scottish clan system began in the most unlikely of places: a comparative legal history course at Stanford Law School. After a short but enjoyable stint practicing law, she realized that her legal vocation and her husband’s transitory career as a professional baseball player were not exactly a match made in heaven. So she traded in her legal briefs for Scottish historical romances with sexy alpha heroes. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their two young children. Visit the author’s website at www.MonicaMcCarty.com Klappentext Lachlan Maclean will do whatever it takes to protect his clan-even if it means abducting the most willful woman in the Highlands with the secret intention of wooing her for marriage. A born searing sensual leader possessing brute strength, and an imposing command, Lachlan is unprepared for the beautiful spitfire Flora MacLeod, who jeopardizes his plans to save his clan, and digs beneath his hard, chiseled exterior to expose a tenderness that may be his undoing. The greatest marriage prize in the Highlands, Flora is determined at all costs to avoid her mother's fate of being bartered away as a political pawn. Vowing to make her captor pay for his ruthlessness, she boldly engages him in a battle of wills, sweetening the challenge with dangerous passion-even as the lingering curse and deadly ghosts of a past tragedy reach out to thwart a tender love that has yet to be spoken.Chapter 1 Near Falkirk, Scotland, Spring 1607 “Second thoughts?” Flora MacLeod turned her gaze from the window to peer into the darkness at the man seated opposite her. She never had second thoughts, which—given that it was too late to change her mind—she supposed was a good thing. No, once she made a decision, she stuck with it. A small army couldn’t turn her from her course. In the matter of her marriage, there was no exception. “Don’t be silly,” she replied. “I couldn’t be happier.” It was clear, however, that her soon-to-be husband, William, Lord Murray, son of the newly created Earl of Tullibardine, didn’t believe her. “Happy? I haven’t seen you so subdued in months.” He paused. “It’s not too late to turn back, you know.” But it was. She’d made her decision the moment she’d snuck out of Holyrood House and scrambled into the waiting carriage. “I don’t want to turn back.” But the vehemence she’d intended was lost when her voice vibrated with the clattering carriage. A carriage that was fighting to stay upright on the uneven road. She grabbed the seat as best she could when they hit another bump and tried not to crash sidelong into the glossy, wood-paneled walls. A battle she was sure to lose before this day was done. The road leading from Edinburgh would only get worse as they neared the parish of Falkirk. “Maybe we would have been better off riding after all?” she ventured. It was at Lord Murray’s insistence that they’d taken the carriage—luxurious, but impractical on the road to the Highland divide. “No need to worry on that account. We’re perfectly safe. My coachman is an excellent driver.” William tried to hand her back her purse, which had slid off the bench beside her, but it slipped through her fingers, landing on the floor again. He laughed. “I never thought I’d see the day that Flora MacLeod was nervous.” Her mouth twitched, caught. “Perhaps I am a bit anxious. I’ve never done this before, you know.” He gave her hand a friendly pat. “I should hope not. But no need to worry, everything is all arranged. It shouldn’t be much longer now.” She sat back against the seat and tried to relax. If all went according to plan, in a few hours she would be Lady Murray. Lord Murray—William, she reminded herself—had found a minister willing to preside over the clandestine marriage ceremony without proclaiming the banns. Every man had his price, and f...

Product details

• Authors: Monica McCarty
• Publisher: Ballantine
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 25.09.2007
• EAN: 9780345494382
• ISBN: 978-0-345-49438-2
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 105 mm x 175 mm x 20 mm
• Series: Macleods of Skye; Macleods of Skye
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature