Highland Angels (Fated Hearts Book 3) (26 page)
Read Highland Angels (Fated Hearts Book 3) Online
Authors: Ceci Giltenan
Ian was two years younger than Bram. For brothers, they looked nothing alike. Both were tall, but Bram had fair hair and blue eyes like their mother and Ian had dark hair and brown eyes like their father. Their temperaments were vastly different as well. Although Bram smiled easily, he tended to be quiet and often serious. Like Laird Sutherland, he revealed very little of what he was thinking, sometimes appearing aloof. Even so, most of their clansmen considered him level-headed and fair. They believed he would make a good leader when his time came. Ian, too, was quick with a smile but that was where the similarities ended. He enjoyed a good time, and seemingly took very little seriously. However, Ian was acutely observant and absolutely forthright. Most people knew exactly where he stood on any issue. As different as they were, Ian was truly his best friend. “Aye Ian, ye know me well. Do me a kindness and tell Da ye didn’t find me.”
“Ah, well now brother, I could tell Da ye weren’t in the kitchens, because ye weren’t. But Mother is anxious to see ye too and ye and she can see right through any guile.”
Bram sighed heavily. “I suppose it was vain hope to think I could avoid this.” Bran fell in step by his brother as they walked to the keep.
“Aye, it was. Ye know how excited mother was to finally have a daughter, or at least a daughter-to-be. Da would only say that ye were the one who chose to release the MacNicol lass from the betrothal. When Mam kept asking questions he roared for someone to fetch ye from the stable and then he stomped off to his solar with a jug of whiskey under one arm.”
“Damn, I wanted to talk to him about Innes.”
“Ye heard about her long-lost granddaughter?”
“I just met her. Ye knew about her?”
“Aye, she arrived the day ye and Da left for Naomh-dùn. She seems nice enough. Innes adores her.”
“I wish we knew more about her. It is hard to believe their story and yet I don’t see what they have to gain by lying.”
“Innes is certain the lass is her granddaughter. She had a brooch that belonged to Tristan.”
“What about her husband? Have ye met him? What is he like?”
“She has no husband. She’s a widow. She arrived with just her daughter, a few days ago. It was the day ye and Da left.”
“A widow? She is an awfully young widow.”
“Bram, let this go for now. Innes is thrilled. Tomorrow will be soon enough to sort out Innes’ granddaughter. Besides, it will likely take ye all evening to answer to mother’s questions.”
“I suppose ye are right. Well then, let the interrogation begin,” said Bram as they entered the keep.
~ * ~
Grace leaned against the door, listening for Bram Sutherland’s retreating footsteps. For much too long a moment, she heard nothing. Then, finally, the crunch of the gravel told her he was leaving.
So that was Bram Sutherland. How could ye have been so rude and stupid, Grace?
Her initial shock at finding a man standing outside the cottage had quickly shifted to fear. She supposed that feeling threatened, her protective instincts had kicked in and she had gone on the offensive to keep Kristen safe. Perhaps that is also why she didn’t correct him when he assumed her husband was with her. Still, he would find out soon enough.
She had to admire how he wished to protect her grandmother though. But the idea that he thought he would have to protect Innes from Grace was worrisome. Now Grace feared she had only made it worse. She sat down and put her head in her hands as she realized she had just stirred the ire of another laird’s son.
Highland Echoes is available as an
e-book
,
audio book
and
paperback
.
While written before the Fated Hearts series, the Duncurra series takes place in the same world, beginning about eighteen years after Highland Highland Angels and containing a few of the same characters.
Highland Solution
The first book in the Duncurra Series, available as
e-book
,
audiobook
and
paperback
. An
Inspirational Version
is also available which has been edited to remove explicit intimate scenes.
Laird Niall MacIan needs Lady Katherine Ruthven’s dowry to relieve his clan’s crushing debt but he has no intention of giving her his heart in the bargain.
Niall MacIan, a Highland laird, desperately needs funds to save his impoverished clan. Lady Katherine Ruthven, a lowland heiress, is rumored to be “unmarriageable” and her uncle hopes to be granted her title and lands when the king sends her to a convent.
King David II anxious to strengthen his alliances sees a solution that will give Ruthven the title he wants, and MacIan the money he needs. Laird MacIan will receive Lady Katherine’s hand along with her substantial dowry and her uncle will receive her lands and title.
Lady Katherine must forfeit everything in exchange for a husband who does not want to be married and believes all women to be self-centered and deceitful. Can the lovely and gentle Katherine mend his heart and build a life with him or will he allow the treachery of others to destroy them?
Highland Courage
The second book in the Duncurra Series, available as
e-book
,
audiobook
and
paperback
. An
Inspirational Version
is also available which has been edited to remove explicit intimate scenes.
Her parents want a betrothal, but Mairead MacKenzie can’t get married without revealing her secret and no man will wed her once he knows.
Plain in comparison to her siblings and extremely reserved, Mairead has been called “MacKenzie’s Mouse” since she was a child. No one knows the reason for her timidity and she would just as soon keep it that way. When her parents arrange a betrothal to Laird Tadhg Matheson she is horrified. She only sees one way to prevent an old secret from becoming a new scandal.
Tadhg Matheson admires and respects the MacKenzies. While an alliance with them through marriage to Mairead would be in his clan’s best interest, he knows Laird MacKenzie seeks a closer alliance with another clan. When Tadhg learns of her terrible shyness and her youngest brother’s fears about her, Tadhg offers for her anyway.
Secrets always have a way of revealing themselves. With Tadhg’s unconditional love, can Mairead find the strength and courage she needs to handle the consequences when they do?
Highland Intrigue
The third book in the Duncurra Series, available as
e-book
,
audiobook
and
paperback
. An
Inspirational Version
is also available which has been edited to remove explicit intimate scenes.
Lady Gillian MacLennan's clan needs a leader, but the last person on earth she wants as their laird is Fingal Maclan. She can neither forgive nor forget that his mother killed her father, and, by doing so, created Clan MacLennan’s current desperate circumstances.
King David knows a weak clan, without a laird, can change quickly from a simple annoyance to a dangerous liability, and he cannot ignore the turmoil. The MacIan’s owe him a great debt, so when he makes Fingal MacIan laird of clan MacLennan and requires that he marry Lady Gillian, Fingal is in no position to refuse.
In spite of the challenge, Fingal is confident he can rebuild her clan, ease her heartache and win her affection. However, just as love awakens, the power struggle takes a deadly turn. Can he protect her from the unknown long enough to uncover the plot against them? Or will all be lost, destroying the happiness they seek in each other’s arms?
The Pocket Watch Chronicles
The first book in this series, The Pocket Watch, is included in the
Highland Flames
collection. There will be additional Pocket Watch stories in the future. It too is set in the same world as both the Fated Hearts and the Duncurra series—several generations earlier.
The Pocket Watch
When Maggie Mitchell, is transported to the thirteenth century Highlands will Laird Logan Carr help mend her broken heart or put it in more danger than before?
Generous, kind, and loving, Maggie nearly always puts the needs of others first. So when a mysterious elderly woman gives her an extraordinary pocket watch, telling her it’s a conduit to the past, Maggie agrees to give the watch a try, if only to disprove the woman’s delusion.
But it works.
Maggie finds herself in the thirteenth century Scottish Highlands, with a handsome warrior who clearly despises her. Her tender soul is caught between her own desire and the disaster she could cause for others. Will she find a way to resolve the trouble and return home within the allotted sixty days? Or will someone worthy earn her heart forever?
Other Titles Published by Duncurra LLC
Stephanie Joyce Cole
Can you ever run away from your own life?
Reeling from the shock of a suddenly shattered marriage, Meredith flees as far from her home in Florida as she can get without a passport: to Alaska.
After a freak accident leaves her presumed dead, she stumbles into a new identity and a new life in a quirky small town. Her friendship with a fiery and temperamental artist and her growing worry for her elderly, cranky landlady pull at the fabric of her carefully guarded secret. When a romance with a local fisherman unexpectedly blossoms, Meredith struggles to find a way to meld her past and present so that she can move into the future she craves. But someone is looking for her, someone who will threaten Meredith's dream of a reinvented life.
MJ Platt
Can Callum “Mac” Maclain make Sage Burnett believe in his love for her and
save her from her stalker?
Escaping from a stalker, Sage Burnett crashes her plane on a mountain, part of the ranch owned by the man who rejected her eight years ago. She still loves him and prays he isn't around because she dreads facing him to only have him reject her again.
Callum "Mac" MacLain, the ranch owner, a Marine home on medical leave rescues her from the mountain. He persuades her to stay until she heals. He realizes he is still in love with her. Can he save her from her stalker and convince her his love is real?
USA Today Bestselling Author
Sue-Ellen Welfonder/Allie MacKay
The Ravenscraig Series
Tour guide Mara MacDougall stops at a London antique shop-and spots perhaps the handsomest bed ever. Then she bumps into the handsomest man ever. Soon Mara can't forget the irresistible-if haughty-Highlander. Not even when she learns that she's inherited a Scottish castle.
Spectral Sir Alexander Douglas has hated the Clan MacDougall since he was a medieval knight and they tricked him into a curse-the curse of forever haunting the bed (the very one that Mara now owns) that was once intended for his would-be bride. But Mara makes him feel what no other MacDougall has-a passion that he never knew he'd missed.
Live the ancient magic of Scotland.
After stepping through a magical gateway, Kira Bedwell finds herself in fourteenth century Scotland, face-to-face with Aidan MacDonald, the irresistible Highlander who has visited her in dreams. Now that their romance transcends dreams to reality, they find themselves under attack by Aidan’s enemies. It will take all of their courage and will for their love to survive beyond time itself…
Highlander in Her Dreams is also available as an
audiobook
.
A good man is hard to find.
Cilla Swanner has been jilted by her lover, and she is struggling with a jewelry business that’s far from sparkling. She needs a getaway someplace quiet and remote. Someplace like Dunroamin Castle in Scotland, where her aunt and uncle run a retirement home in the majestic Highlands. But what she finds there may be more than she can handle.
Or is it the other way around?
Centuries ago, the roguish Scots knight known as Hardwick was renowned for his swordmanship, both on and off the battlefield. But a traveling bard cursed him to wander the world forever, pleasing a different woman each night with no hope of fulfillment or true love. Then Hardwick meets Cilla, who may be his only chance for salvation.
If you love Scotland and big, brawny men in kilts, this one's for you...
Mindy Menlove lives in a castle that was transported stone by stone from Scotland to Pennsylvania. When she must sell the estate, her plans soon unravel. She's bound for the Hebrides, a place she'd hoped to avoid. Once there, she's confronted by the castle's original builder, who happens to be maddeningly irresistible and seven hundred years young.
Bran of Barra was a legendary Highland chieftain. Since his demise he's enjoyed his ghostly pleasures - until a feisty female from across the Atlantic claims that she's come to Scotland to restore his ancestral home. It's a task she hasn't accepted willingly, and if the roguish Bran doesn't change Mindy's mind about his bonnie homeland - and him - neither of them will ever find any peace. But unexpected passion can be the most powerful...
Short Stories (approximately 10,000 words each)
Down-on-her-luck American artist Maggie Gleason returns to Ireland, hoping to put old hurts behind her. Instead, revisiting the fishing village that enchanted her twelve years before only reopens wounds – until the unexpected appearance of roguish pub owner Conall Flanagan proves that the Ancient Isle is a magical place where anything can happen and true love always stands the test of time
Aspiring writer Lindy Lovejoy knows all about happy endings. But when she travels to Scotland to research Celtic myth and lore, she never expected a chance to live her own. Until a stop at mystical Smoo Cave whisks her back in time and into the arms of a Highland hero who’d burn up the pages of the steamiest Scottish romance novel.