ABOUT HIGHLAND CROWN:
Scottish pride, persuasion, and passion—this is Highland romance at its breathtaking
best.
Inverness, 1820
Perched on the North Sea, this port town—by turns legendary and mythological—is a place where
Highland rebels and English authorities clash in a mortal struggle for survival and dominance.
Among the fray is a lovely young widow who possesses rare and special gifts.
WANTED: Isabella Drummond
A true beauty and trained physician, Isabella has inspired longing and mystery—and fury—in a
great many men. Hunted by both the British government and Scottish rebels, she came to the
Highlands in search of survival. But a dying ship’s captain will steer her fate into even stormier
waters. . .and her heart into flames.
FOUND: Cinaed Mackintosh
Cast from his home as a child, Cinaed is a fierce soul whose allegiance is only to himself … until
Isabella saved his life—and added more risk to her own. Now, the only way Cinaed can keep he
r safe to seek refuge at Dalmigavie Castle, the Mackintosh family seat. But when the scandalous
truth of his past comes out, any chance of Cinaed having a bright future with Isabella is thrown
into complete darkness. What will these two ill-fated lovers have to sacrifice to be together…for
eternity?
best.
Inverness, 1820
Perched on the North Sea, this port town—by turns legendary and mythological—is a place where
Highland rebels and English authorities clash in a mortal struggle for survival and dominance.
Among the fray is a lovely young widow who possesses rare and special gifts.
WANTED: Isabella Drummond
A true beauty and trained physician, Isabella has inspired longing and mystery—and fury—in a
great many men. Hunted by both the British government and Scottish rebels, she came to the
Highlands in search of survival. But a dying ship’s captain will steer her fate into even stormier
waters. . .and her heart into flames.
FOUND: Cinaed Mackintosh
Cast from his home as a child, Cinaed is a fierce soul whose allegiance is only to himself … until
Isabella saved his life—and added more risk to her own. Now, the only way Cinaed can keep he
r safe to seek refuge at Dalmigavie Castle, the Mackintosh family seat. But when the scandalous
truth of his past comes out, any chance of Cinaed having a bright future with Isabella is thrown
into complete darkness. What will these two ill-fated lovers have to sacrifice to be together…for
eternity?
Excerpt:
Cinaed
looked up into a woman’s face. Fine black eye- brows arched over
brown eyes that were focused on his chest. Thick dark hair was pulled
back in a braid and pinned up at the back of her head. Intent on what
she was doing, she was unaware that he was awake.
Her
brow was furrowed, and lines of concentration framed the corners of
her mouth. The grey travel dress she wore was plain and practical.
She was not old, but not young either. Not fat, not thin. From where
he lay, he guessed she was neither tall nor short. She was beautiful,
but not in the flashy way of the women who generally greeted sailors
in the port towns. Nor was she like the eyelash-fluttering lasses in
Halifax who never stopped trying to get his attention after a Sunday
service. He didn’t bother to assess the pleasant symmetry of her
face, however. The “brook no nonsense” expression warned that she
wasn’t one to care what others thought of her looks, anyway.
But
who was she?
The
last clear memory he had was seeing a flash from the shore. The next
moment his chest had been punched with what felt like a fiery poker.
Everything after that floated in a jumbled haze. He recalled being in
the water, trying to swim toward some distant shore. Or was he
struggling to reach the longboat again?
Cinaed
didn’t know what part of his body hurt more, the fearsome pounding
in his head or the burning piece of that poker still lodged in his
chest.
“Where
am I?” he demanded. “Who the deuce are you?”
Startled,
she sat up straight, pulling away and scowl- ing down at him. In one
blood-covered hand, she held a needle and thread. In the other, a
surgeon’s knife that she now pointed directly at his throat.
“Try
to choke me again and I’ll kill you.” “Choke you? For the love
of God, woman!”
His
ship. The reef. The explosion. He closed his eyes for a moment
and tried to clear away the fog. Everything he’d been through
struck him like a broad- side.
The
Highland
Crown was
gone. He’d detonated the powder himself. Where were his men? He’d
climbed into the last longboat. They’d been fired at from the
beach. He’d been shot.
Cinaed
grabbed the knife-wielding wrist before she could pull it away.
“Where are my men?”
An
ancient woman in Highland garb slid into his line of sight behind the
younger one. She was making sure he saw the cudgel she had over one
shoulder.
“This
one is worth less than auld fish bait, mistress,” she taunted. The
crone was ready and obviously eager to use that club. “And
thankless, too, I’m bound. I was right when I said ye should never
have saved him.”
Should
never have saved him. He
released the wrist, and the hand retreated. But the dark-haired woman
didn’t move away. As if nothing had happened, she dropped the knife
on the cot, out of his reach. The brown eyes again focused on his
chest, and she put her needle back to work.
He
winced but kept his hands off the woman.
By
all rights, he should be dead. A musket ball had cut him down and
knocked him into the water. He should in- deed be finished. Someone
on shore had tried to kill him.
But
he was alive, and apparently he owed his life to this one. Gratitude
flowed through him.
“Want
me to give him another knock in the head?” the old witch asked.
“Last
stitch. Let me finish,” she said in a voice lacking the heavier
burr of the northern accent. “You can kill him when I’m done.”
A
sense of humor, Cinaed thought. At least, he hoped she was joking.
She tied off the knot, cut the thread, and straightened her back,
inspecting her handiwork. He lifted his head to see what kind of
quilt pattern she’d made of him. A puckered line of flesh, topped
by a row of neat stitches, now adorned the area just below his
collarbone. He’d been sewn up by surgeons before, and they’d
never done such a fine job of it. He started to sit up to thank her.
That
was a grave mistake. For an instant, he thought the old woman had
used her cudgel, after all. When he pushed himself up, his brain
exploded, and he had no doubt it was now oozing out of his ears and
eye sockets. The taste of bilge water bubbled up in his throat.
“A
bucket,” he groaned desperately.
The
woman was surprisingly strong. She rolled him and held a bucket as
his stomach emptied. She’d been ex- pecting this, it appeared.
However horrible he was feeling before, it was worse now as the room
twisted and rocked and spun. Long stretches of dry heaves wracked his
body. “Blood I can deal with,” the old woman grouched from
somewhere in the grey haze filling the room. He heaved
again.
“By all the saints!”
“I’ll
clean up later. Don’t worry about any of this. Go sit by the fire,
Jean. You’ve had a long night.”
Cinaed
felt a wet cloth swab the back of his neck and his face.
Jean
mumbled something unintelligible about “weak- bellied” and “not
to be trusted” and “a misery.” When he hazarded a glance at
her, she was glaring at him like some demon guarding the gates of
hell.
“Does
my nephew know that yer a doctor?” she asked, not taking her eyes
off of him as she snatched up the knife and handed it to the younger
woman.
A
doctor! He lifted his head to look at her again. She was definitely a
woman. And a fine-looking one, at that. He was still breathing, and
she’d done an excellent job on whatever damage had been done to his
chest by the bullet. But the possibility of any trained physician, or
even a surgeon, being here in this remote corner of the High- lands
was so implausible. Male or
female.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Authors Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick (writing as May McGoldrick) weave emotionally satisfying tales
of love and danger. Under the names of May McGoldrick and Jan Coffey, these authors have
written more than thirty novels and works of nonfiction. Nikoo, an engineer, also conducts
frequent workshops on writing and publishing and serves as a Resident Author. Jim holds a Ph.D.
in Medieval and Renaissance literature and teaches English in northwestern Connecticut. They are
the authors of Much ado about Highlanders, Taming the Highlander, and Tempest in the
Highlands.
of love and danger. Under the names of May McGoldrick and Jan Coffey, these authors have
written more than thirty novels and works of nonfiction. Nikoo, an engineer, also conducts
frequent workshops on writing and publishing and serves as a Resident Author. Jim holds a Ph.D.
in Medieval and Renaissance literature and teaches English in northwestern Connecticut. They are
the authors of Much ado about Highlanders, Taming the Highlander, and Tempest in the
Highlands.
Author Twitter: @MayMcGoldrick
SMP Romance Twitter: @SMPRomance or @heroesnhearts
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