Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Teaser chapter
Praise for the Novels of Dawn Halliday
“Watch out for your fingers . . . Highland Obsession is on fire—a scorching page-turner from cover to cover! [With] sexy Highlanders and wickedly erotic romance, Dawn Halliday is the hottest new voice in Scottish romance.”
—National bestselling author Monica McCarty
“Dawn Halliday blasts onto the erotic romance scene with a well-written, passionate debut certain to keep readers up all night.”
—Jess Michaels, author of Taboo
“I found myself eagerly reading through the pages waiting to find out what would happen next . . . a wonderful summertime read.”
—Romance Junkies
“Joyfully recommended! There was nothing about this novel that I didn’t like. Well, other than the fact that it made me sweat. Ms. Halliday gets two thumbs up . . . impressively awesome.”
—Joyfully Reviewed
“Passionate . . . a wonderful read.”
—Just Erotic Romance Reviews
“If you like your romance hot and sexy, this book is the one for you.”
—The Romance Studio
“[An] erotic treat . . . plenty of sensual thrills. Great job and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.”
—Fallen Angel Reviews
“Absolutely sizzles . . . [a] well-crafted plot and steaming-hot sex. Definitely recommended!”
—TwoLips Reviews
ALSO BY DAWN HALLIDAY
Highland Obsession
SIGNET ECLIPSE
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,
Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, April 2010
Copyright © Jennifer Haymore, 2010
All rights reserved
SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Halliday, Dawn.
Highland surrender / Dawn Halliday.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-101-18626-8
1. Highlands (Scotland)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.A54835H57 2010
813’.6—dc22 2009040778
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
http://us.penguingroup.com
For Lawrence
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Huge thanks to the two people without whom I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to write this book: Barbara Poelle, my fantastic agent, and Becky Vinter, my amazing editor.
To all the writers who helped me so much in crafting this book: Evie Byrne, Tessa Dare, Kate McKinley, and Maya Banks—I appreciate your honesty, your talent, and your friendship. Thank you so much! And to Jody Allen, who helped me to research this novel and whose knowledge of all things Scottish is amazing.
Finally, huge thanks to my husband and children, who are so generous with their support. I couldn’t do it without your never-ending encouragement.
CHAPTER ONE
Scottish Highlands
April 1717
The Earl of Camdonn urged his horse to a canter. Ears pricked, the animal willingly obliged, sensing its rider’s eagerness. From the gentle hills of Hampshire to the craggy Highland mountains, Cam had followed behind the two black-lacquered carriages rumbling toward Camdonn Castle. Today, however, on the final leg of the journey, he’d stopped to speak with one of his tenants, and the carriages had drawn ahead.
He leaned low and became one with his mare as they sped along the ragged path leading to Camdonn Castle. Since they had left England, he’d clung to the image of leading his bride-to-be and her uncle through the castle gates. A rider had gone ahead to bear the news that they would arrive this afternoon, and Cam had indulged in a vision of his people lined up along the road leading through the castle gates, smiling and cheering as they welcomed him home.
He wanted to make it clear that he was back to stay this time. He intended to become the leader his Highlanders needed.
Only a few miles to go—they now rode through the pass in the forested mountains bordering the southern side of Loch Shiel. Cam had doubted the duke’s coaches would survive the journey, since the rutted paths in this part of the world didn’t come near to qualifying as roads. They’d engaged the services of a wheelwright and had made use of him often along the way, and somehow they had succeeded.
Cam could now breathe easy, and the sweet, fresh smells of pine and heather—of home—washed through him. Cam hoped Elizabeth would grow to love the Highlands as quickly as he had.
He thought she might. Just shy of twenty, Lady Elizabeth was young, titled, and rich. A proper innocent English lass and the perfect wife for him, polit
ically speaking. The Duke of Argyll himself had suggested the match, and the king had endorsed it.
Even better, though she was beautiful and alluring and would be no hardship to bed, her demure nature didn’t rouse him to all-consuming desire, a state Cam was determined to avoid at all costs.
He hardly knew her, but that didn’t matter. Cam had gone to England in search of someone precisely like Elizabeth. He was pleased his quest hadn’t taken too long. He’d been in England for five months, and already he ached for home.
His horse rounded a bend in the wide path, and a faint commotion ahead drew Cam from his thoughts. Cam frowned and leaned forward in the saddle, straining his ears. Men shouting? Suddenly the crack of a gunshot resonated through the air, and his horse surged into a gallop.
What the hell? Cam gave the animal its head as another shot sent a flock of birds bursting from the branches of a nearby pine.
The road opened into a clearing where men on horseback swarmed around the larger, gold leaf-trimmed carriage—the one bearing Elizabeth, her uncle, her lady’s maid, and two of the duke’s trusted servants. The attackers all wore black, and scarves covered the lower halves of their faces. The second vehicle carrying the duke’s remaining men and the wheelwright was nowhere to be seen.
Cam bared his teeth. Highwaymen.
As he thundered closer, he saw the sole man on foot drag Lady Elizabeth from the carriage. She didn’t make a sound, nor did she fight back. The poor chit was petrified with fear.
Protective rage swelled in Cam’s chest, and he yanked his pistol from his belt. “Let her go, damn you!” he bellowed, heedless of the fact that she’d hear his foul language.
All four attackers swiveled in his direction. Just as well. If he diverted their attention away from his helpless family-to-be, perhaps he could keep them safe. He focused on the villain, whose filthy, calloused hands wrapped around Elizabeth’s tiny waist.
“Release her!” He leveled the pistol at the man’s chest, though the bastard probably knew Cam wouldn’t dare risk shooting and injuring Elizabeth.
Astonishingly, the man obeyed. He shoved her aside. She stumbled backward, tripping over her voluminous silk skirts and tumbling into a gorse bush. The villain leered at Cam as the three others on horseback turned toward him. Someone tossed the man on foot the reins of a riderless horse, and he mounted quickly.
Looked as if they all intended to come after him. Good. He’d draw them away from Elizabeth and the duke.
Garbled shouting came from inside the carriage, and Cam’s attention snapped to the rig. The coachman, gazing wide-eyed over his shoulder, raised the reins.
“Ho! On with you, then!” He whipped the animals into a frenzied gallop. The carriage lurched forward, leaving Elizabeth stranded in the bush.
None of the highwaymen pursued the carriage or paid attention to the bright yellow flurry of Elizabeth’s skirts—all four focused solely on Cam.
It was him they wanted, he thought grimly. So much the better.
But they were closing in.
He aimed his pistol at one of the bandits and fired. The horse reared, and the man toppled off the animal, but the rest lunged closer, weapons drawn. Three guns aimed directly at him.
Turning away from them, Cam bent low over the mare’s elongated neck and dug in his heels. A bullet whizzed past his shoulder.
Air streamed through his hair as the mare leaped smoothly over a fallen tree. Brilliant, he thought with pride. Another excellent acquisition from his trip to England. As with Lady Elizabeth, he hadn’t spent a fortune on this animal for her beauty alone.
A man shouted behind him, and the villains’ horses drew nearer. Cam unsheathed his sword with a whoosh of steel against leather.
He had been on the move for the greater part of the day—it was the only reason their horses could outrun his. As one approached his rear flank, Cam held out his sword as if he were jousting. He yanked on the reins, turning in a tight circle only a well-trained and well-bred horse could manage. The abrupt motion sent the animal just behind him catapulting past. The weapon pierced the man’s side, jerking him off his horse. Cam yanked his sword away, and his attacker fell to the ground, blood staining the tear in his tattered black coat.
The second bandit was gaining on his other side. Spinning in his saddle, Cam arced his sword through the air and cut him in the shoulder. The horse shied, and the man hunched over in the saddle, clutching his wound.
The final man chasing him had time to slow his mount, and Cam caught a glimpse of the barrel of a musket. Again he made a tight turn and spurred his horse, leaning low. The animal leaped ahead, passing through a thick screen of greenery. Leaves whipped at Cam’s face.
Just as he decided he was safe, the loud report of a gunshot shook the trees, and fire exploded through Cam’s body. He jerked, yanking on the reins, and the mare reared. He toppled from her sleek back. Bracken and moss softened his fall, but he felt nothing but the all-consuming pain.
God help him. Finally, just as he was about to turn his life to rights, he’d been killed. And worst of all, he’d left the sheltered, innocent Lady Elizabeth alone in the wild Highlands of Scotland.
The hair prickled on the back of Ceana MacNab’s neck. Someone was in her cottage. Watching her.
She tightened her grip on the pestle she was using to grind herbs. With her lips twisted into a snarl, she spun round.
“Rob!” Lowering the pestle, she took a step backward. “You scared me.”
Robert MacLean leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. The barest hint of a smile touched his lips before it faded. Smiles never held on Rob’s face. They passed over it like specters, and if a woman blinked, she’d miss them.
She wished she could draw out the source of his melancholy, but so far she’d failed. Yet she couldn’t fault him for his reticence. After all, she kept secrets from him as well.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice low and smooth.
She set the pestle on the long, low table where she mixed her medicines. “You could announce your presence, couldn’t you? I heard gunshots a few moments ago, and—”
“I heard them too.”
She released a low noise of disgust. “Poachers again.”
“Aye, must be. You ought to speak with the laird about them.”
“I already have. As long as they don’t infringe on the needs of his people, Alan turns a blind eye.” She hid a shudder—the crack of muskets made her skin crawl. “He’s too lenient, that one. If it were me, I’d have skinned them alive by now, just for disturbing my afternoon repose.”
Rob pushed himself off the doorframe and took a step toward her. His blue tartan plaid shifted over his knees as he walked, and his whisky-colored eyes scanned the dim interior of her cottage. “You haven’t any patients?”
“None so far today.” Warmth traveled across her chest, and she looked down lest he see her blush.
Ceana lived an isolated existence, made bearable only by her work and the superficial associations she maintained. She’d arrived at the Glen two months ago and had lived in lonely seclusion until she’d been summoned to Camdonn Castle to care for a man with an ague. She’d met Rob, the stable master, there, and the attraction between them had flared, instantaneous and powerful. When she’d left Camdonn Castle, it had been near dark and he’d offered to ride home with her on one of the horses. They’d talked along the way, and his quietly confident demeanor had appealed to her. When they’d arrived at her cottage, she’d asked him to come inside for some ale.
By the time he’d left it was nearly dawn, and they were lovers.
He wasn’t her first lover. As with the others, whenever she was with Rob, she diligently followed the rules for carnal relations she’d established for herself after she’d left Aberdeen. Never share your past. Never let him into your heart. Always keep him at a distance.
Most men she’d known were more than happy to abide by the rules she set forth, for they allowed them to have a
willing bed partner without any expectations of a long-term attachment. The arrangement worked perfectly well for Ceana, too. Without someone to occasionally warm her bed, she’d have gone mad from the loneliness.
Rob, however, was different from the others. More complicated, more guarded, more difficult for her to understand. He possessed many appealing qualities, from his hardened demeanor to his sheer, raw strength. Ceana didn’t intimidate Rob as she did most men. He was a man of few words, a man who lived inside himself. For the most part, he communicated with his eyes, with subtle gestures and variations in stance.
Ceana had grown to care for this mysterious man. A great deal. More, perhaps, than she should.
He took another step toward her. A calloused finger pressed her chin upward, forcing her to look at him. “Take off your clothes.”
Her eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“Do it.” His voice was quiet, commanding, and it sent a shudder down her spine. It had always struck her as a supreme injustice that he was a stable master. He should be a lord of something, of someone, not only of horses.
“I don’t—”
He gazed down at her through those compelling eyes, now glittering with heat. “I haven’t much time. Lord Camdonn will return sometime after midday.”
She blinked. His intent was clear. He wanted her. He wanted to take her fast and hard before returning to his duties at the castle.
Ceana wasn’t one to blindly follow men’s orders, and God knew the women in her family weren’t known for their complacency. But something about Rob inspired obedience.
Highland Surrender Page 1