USA TODAY bestselling author She’s the best wife… …he never wanted! Ross MacMillan lifts his bride’s veil…and discovers it’s not the woman he’d agreed to marry but her beautiful younger sister, Ilysa MacDonnell! The new MacMillan chieftain must accept Ilysa as his wife, for retaining his clan’s lands depends on her father’s support. But why is she there? Are her aims to help him or her father? Drawing out Ilysa’s secrets will kindle an alliance more powerful—and passionate!—than Ross ever imagined… From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past. Highland Alliances Convenient marriages to save their clan! Book 1: The Highlander''''s Substitute Wife by Terri Brisbin Book 2: The Highlander''''s Tactical Marriage by Jenni Fletcher
"A great read! The story moves right along..." Enjoy five fast-paced, engrossing stories about Highlanders and their brides. Book 1 The Highlander's Last-Minute Bride Jane MacKay has little choice: if she does not agree to wed lecherous old Laird Sutherland, her terrified younger sister Heather will be handed over to him in her stead. Jane cannot allow that to happen. With a heavy heart, she journeys to the Sutherland Keep to marry a man whose infamy has spread far and wide—a man who has already buried two wives. Book 2 The Highlander's High-Stakes Bride Gareth and Brodie Hay, brothers born just a twelvemonth apart, are famous for their carousing in the local tavern and love of gambling. When their mother becomes seriously ill, their father insists that one of them must take a wife to help out. Neither wants to give up his free and easy lifestyle—so they decide to let a throw of the dice determine the loser. But the bride is not at all impressed! Book 3 The Highlander's Substitute Bride Crissa and Owena Macleod, auburn-haired identical twins, have always been close. But after a tragedy, Crissa thinks she may never recover from losing both her husband and her darling child. She spends her days quietly in the Maclean Keep—until one day her twin, Owena, comes to her begging for help. Will Crissa take Owena’s place in an arranged marriage, so Owena can marry the one she truly loves? Book 4 The Highlander's Reckless Bride Owena Macleod, daughter of Laird Iain Macleod and twin sister to Crissa, has always yearned for an adventurous life. She falls in love with a brave and dashing King’s Spy, and is distraught when her father arranges her betrothal to Laird Kenrik Maclean. She pleads with her twin Crissa to take her place in the nuptials, and Owena takes her name and slips away… but life will not be kind to her…. Book 5 The Highlander's Rescued Bride Anice Gordon has been a sore trial to her parents from the day she was born. Headstrong, impulsive and forever in trouble, she is a lass who seems to attract disaster. Robert Ogilvy, her brother Donal's best friend, grew up having to rescue Anice from one mishap after another. He is fond of Anice, but when her father announces that the two shall be betrothed, Robert is dismayed.…
Terrified by the rumors and stories about her betrothed’s wicked ways, Joanna runs away before their marriage. Willing to face death rather than the Warlock of Wynwydd, she finds a safe haven in Silloth Keep where she seeks sanctuary and plans her escape. Humiliated by Joanna’s refusal to take their vows, Braden follows her across England and discovers her hiding place. When faced with her fiery resistance, he’s not sure if he wants to woo her or take her by force. While trying to decide, he falls in love with her and begins to hope that she is the bride who can help lift the curse that threatens his family. In spite of her fears, Joanna is drawn to the man she senses beneath the bluster and is confused when Braden begins to treat her more as a valued bride than a recalcitrant runaway. But can Joanna trust the man who was the cause of her misery and give his promises, and love, a chance? The Claiming of Lady Joanna was previously published by Harlequin in The Betrothal anthology and is now rereleased by the author and Luckebooth Press.
When Gavin MacLeod visited his English friends at Silloth Keep for the Christmas holidays, he is drawn to the intrigue surrounding a woman, a harlot, who arrived without any explanation other than her trade. But in trying to learn her secrets, he begins to fall in love with a young woman who is kind and intelligent and in need of a hero. Elizabeth was sold to a brothel by a greedy husband trying to rid himself of a barren wife. Seeking only a place where she can survive, she never dreams that she might find a new life—and a new love—when a Scottish warrior comes to visit. Love at First Step was previously published by Harlequin in The Christmas Visit anthology and is now rereleased by the author and Luckenbooth Press.
Crissa and Owena Macleod, auburn-haired twins who are impossible to tell apart, have always been close. As children, one of their favorite games was to pretend to be each other to confuse their family and friends. Crissa thinks she may never recover from losing both her husband and her darling child, and spends her days quietly in the Maclean Keep — until one day her twin, Owena, comes to her begging for help. Owena has fallen in love with a dashing young man who does mysterious work for the King. To her dismay, her father has arranged her betrothal to Kenrik Maclean. With tears in her eyes, Owena exerts all her wiles to persuade Crissa to take her place. Can she not remember what it was like to love someone so deeply? Surely she will do this for her sister? After all, she says, as a widow, Crissa can marry whomever she likes! Crissa finally gives in, but although the wedding passes without the groom being any the wiser, neither twin could possibly have foreseen where their deception would lead.…
Rebellion was recurrent in the Highlands because the Gaels (Scoti) were an often-oppressed indigenous minority in the nation, Scotland, to which they gave their name. They spoke a language, Gaelic, few outsiders would learn, and had their own family and social system, the clans. Warfare was bloody, culminating in the catastrophe of Culloden Moor during the doomed quest to restore the Stuart kingship to all of Britain. Economic hardship, including the near-genocidal Clearances, in which tenant farmers were replaced with sheep, drove the Gaels from the glens and islands, so that most today live in the diaspora, including millions in North America. Although the Gaels lack a single genetic identity, they clearly draw from distinct roots in the Irish, Norse and Picts. Despite their hardship, the Gaels are also presented in romantic portrayals by the artistic elite of other nations. This book offers ways in which the reader might find roots and ancestry in unfamiliar terrain. Chapters discuss the landscape and language of the Highlanders, the rise of clans, feuds and invasions, and eventual emigration.
Much has been written about the British army’s campaigns during the many wars it fought in the eighteenth century, but for over 150 years no one has attempted to produce a history of the army as an institution during this period. That is why Stephen Conway’s perceptive and detailed study is so timely and important. Taking into account the latest scholarship, he considers the army’s legal status, political control and administration, its system of recruitment, the relationships between officers and men, and the social and economic as well as constitutional interactions of the army with British and other societies. Throughout the book a key theme is order and control. How did a small number of officers exercise authority over large numbers of common soldiers? Traditionally the answer has focused on the role of a draconian system of corporal and capital punishment – by extensive use of the lash and the rope. Yet no institution can function through fear alone and he shows that the obedience of its common soldiers had to be negotiated by their officers who were very aware of their men’s sense of their entitlements, and their conception of military service as contractual. By uncovering the mental world of both officers and common soldiers, Stephen Conway offers a very different view of how the British army operated between the Hanoverian succession and the end of the War of American Independence. His work will be fascinating reading for all students of British military history.
