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HEARTBREAK AND HONOR
Highland Heather, Romancing a Scot #3
Collette Cameron
Released Dec 2nd, 2015
Soul Mate Publishing
Lucan, the Duke of Harcourt, promised his gravely ill mother he’d procure a wife by Christmastide, but intrigued by the feisty lass he saved in Scotland, he finds the haut ton ladies lacking. Spying Alexa at a London ball, he impulsively decides to make the knife-wielding gypsy his bride despite her aversion to him and her determination to return to the Highlands.
The adversary responsible for Alexa’s disappearance as a toddler still covets her fortune and joins forces with Harcourt’s arch nemesis. Amidst a series of suspicious misfortunes, Lucan endeavors to win Alexa’s love and expose the conspirators but only succeeds in reaffirming Alexa’s belief that she is inadequate to become his duchess.
A
click announced the lock giving way.
Creaking
on unoiled hinges, the door edged open, inch-by-cautious-inch, and as it did,
the brutal sounds from below filtered into the chamber. Light from the
corridor’s brackets illumined a sinister, black-clad form.
A
disheveled man paused at the threshold, his coat unbuttoned and a pistol
protruding from his waistband. In one hand, he held a sword at the ready, and
in the other, he brandished a dirk. Legs braced, he stood at the entrance like
a buccaneer balancing atop a ship’s deck.
A pirate in the Scottish Highlands?
She
blinked, slapping aside the ridiculous notion. Lack of food and sleep made her
imagination run amuck.
For
a tormenting instant, Tasara feared the ethereal body Satan himself, except she
doubted the devil possessed pale blond hair and required blades to inflict
mortal damage.
Fallen
angel seemed more apt for the apparition illumined within the doorway.
She
strained to see the man’s face. The dim interior hid his features except for a
well-defined profile and a strong jawline. Evil men weren’t supposed to be
attractive.
Stance
wide, and her hand lifted to bury her knife, she waited for the intruder to
move away from the door’s protection.
She
must defend the children, no matter the cost.
“Tathara?”
Lala’s plaintive cry filled the chamber. “Piuthar,
where be ye?”
The
man’s head whipped toward the bed.
The
bedding rustled, and a tear-logged voice whimpered, “Me be ascared. I hearded
screaming.”
Advancing
farther into the room, the intruder looked this way and that. Light from the
passageway spilled across the threshold but failed to reach the bed or the
room’s outer edges.
“A
child? Might have told me,” he muttered in a clipped British accent while
sheathing his weapons. “No matter, I suppose. A female’s a female.”
My
God, what did the debauched knave intend?
The
same loathsome things the Scots threatened?
Not
as long as Tasara’s heart pumped, he wouldn’t. She shifted, ready to spring. A
wee bit farther and she’d have a clear target. He would taste her blade before
he laid one finger upon Lala.
The
man faced the bed and extended his arms. “Come, sweeting, let’s be about it
then. I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
How
dare he, the loathsome degenerate? Tasara made an inarticulate noise.
He
whirled, his body tense and alert.
“Tathara!”
Terror resonated in Lala’s high-pitched cry.
Tasara
lunged, swinging the blade in an arc intended for his neck. “Depraved sot.”
Ducking,
he leaped away, her dagger slicing air instead of flesh. Half-crouched and
keenly alert, he regarded her.
“Ah,
the gypsy wench I expected.” Straightening, and apparently unperturbed at
practically being skewered, he pointed at her dagger. “I do believe you tried
to impale me. Most ungrateful of you, I must say.”
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Award winning, Amazon best-selling, and
multi-published historical romance author, Collette Cameron, has a BS in
Liberal Studies and a Master's in Teaching. A Pacific Northwest Native,
Collette’s been married for thirty years, has three amazing adult children, and
five dachshunds. Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, the
beach, trivia, birds, shabby chic, and Cadbury Chocolate. You'll always find
dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her
novels. Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs,
or too many flowers. She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.
Don't Miss the First Two in the
Highland Heather, Romancing a Scot Series
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