Was there a part that bored or that you didn't really like in the book? *

Even a character, a scene, or anything. You could say no if nothing bothered you.

Which was the part you liked most in the book? *

Even a character, a scene, or anything that you enjoyed.

What’s more swoon-worthy in a Highland romance hero? *

• He rescues her from danger
• He kidnaps her but falls for her
• They have an arranged marriage and start off as opposites/enemies
• They're kidnapped together and he saves them both

What’s the most gripping kind of betrayal in a romance? *

• He was hired to seduce her
• She keeps a huge secret
• One of them is spying for the enemy

Anything else you'd like to share? *

Submit

One month later

“Are ye ready?”

Her mother’s voice was soft as she approached her, smoothing down Kathleen’s dress. She had chosen a soft blue fabric for the occasion, and was adorned with family heirlooms whose stones glittered in the sunlight.

Those were her last moments as a maiden. Soon, she would be married and she was as excited about it as she was nervous. Her heart thundered in her chest, beating so fast that she feared it would leap straight out of her throat, and her stomach churned, but her mother’s strong, steady hands were like an anchor that kept her from getting unmoored.

“I think so,” Kathleen said with a small nod. She didn’t know how she would even make it to the chapel with her legs shaking as they were, but as her mother placed her hand on her back, between her shoulder blades, she found the strength to walk out of the room.

Her father was waiting for her there, and Kathleen didn’t know what to expect from him that day. After all the resistance he had put up, after all the arguments and the yelling and the tears, it was strange to see him smiling now as he looked at her from head to toe, taking in her bridal appearance.

“Ye look so bonnie,” he told her as he pulled her into a rare embrace. Her father, though loving, was not one to show emotion. “Ach, I cannae believe how much ye’ve already grown up. Ye were a bairn just yesterday.”

“An’ soon she’ll have bairns o’ her own,” her mother said, teary-eyed.

Kathleen hadn’t given much thought to that, but she supposed her mother was right. Sooner or later, she and Blaine would start their own family, and her heart skipped a beat at the thought. She could imagine it—children who resembled them both, running around Moy Hall, Kathleen and Blaine teaching them how to ride horses and how to hunt.

For the longest time, she had thought this impossible. And yet now the day had come that she would finally get everything she wanted.

“Are ye happy?” her father asked, his voice uncharacteristically quiet and gentle.

Kathleen nodded, a smile spreading over her lips. “I’m very happy, Faither. I’ve never been happier.”

“Then I’m happy too,” he told her as he pulled back. Then, his expression turned stern and he pointed a warning finger at her, wagging it. “But if he daes anythin’ tae hurt ye—”

“Och aye, we ken,” her mother interrupted, grabbing her father by the arm to pull him down the corridor. “Ye’ve said ye’ll kill him afore an’ yet he’s still alive.”

“Fer now,” her father insisted.

And Kathleen couldn’t help but laugh as she followed them, her heartbeat picking up with each step.

***

“Come here, me wife.”

Kathleen laughed, as she had done the last three times Blaine had called her his wife that day. Had anyone told her that would be her life only mere months prior, she would have laughed, but from disbelief rather than from joy.

Even now, it was hard to believe that she and Blaine were finally married. Around them, the feast for their wedding was in full swing; a band playing cheerful songs, people dancing, drinking, and making merry all around them, and yet Kathleen still feared this was all a dream from which she would soon wake to find herself back in Castle Stalker, without Blaine by her side.

At his request, she took his hand and followed him to the dance floor, letting him guide her once more as he had done at Fenella’s feast. Just like her and Blaine, Fenella and Ewan were dancing, and her laughter could be heard all around the great hall as he twirled her around and pulled her back close.

No one could understand her married bliss better than Kathleen herself. All day, she had not stopped smiling once.

When Blaine pulled her close at the start of the next song, Kathleen gazed into his green eyes, getting lost in them for a moment. She couldn’t imagine a lifetime spent without those eyes in her life, and now she didn’t have to. No one could ever separate them again; even her father had come round, and though he hadn’t quite taken a liking to Blaine just yet, he was at least happy to see Kathleen so joyful.

Each step Blaine took was surefooted, each twirl perfectly calculated. He danced like a noble, much like he acted as one most of the time. It suited him, Kathleen had always thought; it was as though he had truly been born in this life, or at least meant for it.

It was after one of those twirls that he pulled Kathleen flush against him, his arms wrapping around her waist even if it wasn’t part of the dance. For a moment, she frowned, confused by the sudden change in their pace, but then Blaine leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

“Shall we go tae our chambers?”

It was a scandalous suggestion, but one that Kathleen couldn’t resist, even though it was hardly appropriate for them to leave so soon. For a moment, she glanced around them, trying to see if anyone was watching, but everyone seemed too absorbed in their own dances or their own conversations to pay them any mind. And so Kathleen took Blaine’s hand and guided him towards the back of the room, where there was a rarely used passage that could take them out of the great hall without too many eyes spotting them.

After weaving through the crowd of dancers and other guests, Kathleen pulled Blaine into a small corridor that led to a flight of rickety stairs no one had bothered to replace in decades. Blaine chuckled behind her as he followed her, letting her guide him up and out to the hallway near their new chambers, and by the time they were both behind closed doors, he had both hands on her, refusing to let go for even a moment.

“How I love ye,” Blaine told her with a groan as he pressed her against the door, and Kathleen couldn’t help but laugh again, delighted.

“I love ye too,” Kathleen told him, taking a moment to cradle his face in her hands and gaze deep into his eyes. When he leaned in to kiss her, she eagerly parted her lips, the wine and the happiness that coursed through her veins making her pliant and eager for more.

Blaine seemed to be feeling the same way. Kathleen could already feel his hardened manhood against her thigh, pressing insistently into her plush flesh. He laughed giddily against her lips, dragging his hands up her hips, her waist, to have them settle on the swell of her breasts in the end, the touch drawing a moan out of them both.

“I want ye,” Kathleen said, whispering against his lips as her hands tried to gather her skirts as quickly as she could. Though she adored the light blue dress with its ruffles and lace that she had chosen for the wedding, it seemed like a hindrance now that there were so many layers of fabric between them, and she cursed under her breath as a waterfall of fabric kept slipping out of her hands.

“I think ye may have had a little too much tae drink,” Blaine teased, but at least he was merciful enough to help her with one hand, as the other snuck between her thighs to tease her entrance. At the first touch, he paused and looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk that only widened as Kathleen’s cheeks began to burn. “Ye really want me, dinnae ye?”

“Stop it!” Kathleen hissed. Embarrassment flooded through her at just how much she desired him, how much it showed on her body, but it didn’t last long; not when Blaine groaned as he pushed two fingers inside her with ease, her wetness easing their slide.

“Shall I take ye like this? Here?” Blaine asked, and though Kathleen’s cheeks burned like flames, she couldn’t help but nod fervently, her need only growing with every thrust of Blaine’s fingers inside her.

“Aye,” she said, her voice small but firm. “Right here.”

As she spoke, she reached for him, her hands making quick work of his kilt so she could wrap her fingers around his manhood. When Blaine felt her touch for the first time that night, he sighed and let his forehead fall against the door next to Kathleen’s head, his hips thrusting lazily into her grip. Their lips met again in a heated kiss, the two of them sharing the same breath as Kathleen guided Blaine to her entrance, replacing his fingers with his length.

A moan tore its way through her as Blaine wasted no time before he entered her fully, filling her up to the brim. For a moment, he didn’t move; he only stayed there, the two of them pressing their foreheads together and gazing into each other’s eyes as she got used to his girth after a month of being kept apart for the wedding preparations, but it wasn’t long before Kathleen got impatient. She moved her hips first, rolling them against Blaine and drawing a broken moan out of him as she took him just a little deeper, her leg coming up to hook around his waist to pull him close.

When he finally began to move, Kathleen could feel every pleasurable drag of his manhood against her walls, every slam of his pelvis against her mound that teased her most sensitive spot. With one hand on her thigh and the other on her waist, Blaine held her close as he thrusted into her again and again, his rhythm frenzied from the very start as though he could hardly control himself around her.

And Kathleen soon found that she loved it. She loved seeing the wild look in his eyes as he gazed at her. She loved the tight grip of his hands on her, his fingers digging deep into her flesh. She loved the way he took her like he craved her, like he couldn’t live without her even if he had to.

“Does it feel good, me love?” Blaine asked her, leaning in close to nibble at the sensitive skin of her neck. “Tell me… tell me if ye like it.”

“I love it,” Kathleen said in a breathy exhale, wrapping her arms around his neck to hold him close. She buried the fingers of one hand in his hair, tugging gently at the strands just the way he liked it, and that only served to spur him on, urging him to quicken his pace.

Pleasure coursed through her entire body, a tingling sensation spreading all the way to her fingers and toes. Kathleen held onto Blaine desperately as he brought her closer to the edge, the pressure in her belly increasing until there was no choice for it but to explode all through her, her climax crashing over her like a wave.

Her core pulsing around Blaine, Kathleen couldn’t help but moan his name and shake in his arms as he worked her through her orgasm with a few more rhythmic thrusts that teased more and more pleasure out of her. Only when she collapsed against him, boneless, did he chase his own end, giving Kathleen a few more hard thrusts before finally spilling inside her as he claimed her lips in a heated kiss.

For a few moments, the two of them stayed like that, intertwined. Then, as Blaine pulled back and placed her leg back down, Kathleen erupted into laughter that she could not control, her entire body shaking with mirth.

“What is it, lass?” Blaine asked her with a soft, sweet smile as he pulled her into his arms, draping himself over her back.

“Naething,” she said, shaking her head. “I just love ye.”

“Aye,” said Blaine. “An’ I love ye, mo ghraidh.”

The End

Readers who enjoyed this book also bought

★★★★★ 266 ratings

This is the story of Gillian, an adventurous English lady who finds herself captured by a mysterious and alluring Highlander. This Highlander will do whatever it takes to save his people from hunger, even abduct the daughter of his enemy. But life seldom goes as planned. What will happen when the Highlander starts falling for Gillian? And will her feelings or her logic prevail in this peculiar turn of events?

Read the book

★★★★★ 208 ratings

This is the story of Julia, an intelligent English lady who runs away to escape her woes and finds herself in the keep of an enticing Highlander. This Highlander, as handsome as he may be, has serious economic troubles, and only a miracle can save him. But perhaps one's answer is closer than he thinks. How will he help her face the past that is haunting her? And how will she save him?

Read the book

★★★★★ 213 ratings

This is the story of Gale, an adventurous English lady who runs away to escape her murderous mother and finds herself in the company of an alluring Highlander. There she is called to change her ways, and he helps her see the world from a different point of view. But her past is catching up with her. How will she elude her mother? And will this be the only obstacle in their relationship?

Read the book