Mistletoe Magic
Mistletoe Magic on Amazon
A confident knight arrives home to find his childhood friend grown into much more than he remembered. The lady of the castle keeps a dangerous secret that threatens all she holds dear. Will Mistletoe Magic save them? Mistletoe Magic is a medieval romance novella.
Cherished Protector of Her Heart
Cherished Protector of Her Heart on Amazon
Aurora, the honored lady of Acquitaine prepares for her upcoming marriage. Damien, her betrothed, battles the unwanted visitors that have come for more than just celebration. Will his past catch up to him and ruin all he has fought so hard to protect? This novella features characters from Angel's Assassin! Part 2 of the Angel's Assassin Trilogy.
The Bride and the Brute
FREE - The Bride and the Brute Novella on Amazon
Jayce Cullen has been fighting her fear of thunder and lightning ever since she was a child, but nothing could have prepared her for the fury of her new husband. Feeling deceived and betrayed into a loveless marriage, Lord Reese Harrington wants nothing to do with his new wife. Trapped in a marriage with no escape, the beautiful young bride must battle the demons of her husband’s past and hope that she can weather the storm his brutish behavior unleashes. This medieval romance novella is available for FREE for a limited time!
Paranormal Romance
Immortal Death on Amazon
Jade Smith's supernaturally fast ability to heal has made her a freak. After years of fearful reactions from others, she stays hidden in the shadows of life. The one thing that keeps her sane is her writing--and her wonderful Demetrius, an imaginary character she created in her online stories. But when Demetrius suddenly appears in her apartment, her life changes forever.
Demetrius Mercer is a fighter vampire for the de Nouviant family who spends his days hunting a rival vampire family for killing his beloved Rosaline. When he learns Jade Smith knows his life story and is publishing it on the Internet for all to see, he must uncover who she is and how she knows so much about his past--before she exposes him and endangers his entire family.
Will Jade's abilities be enough to heal Demetrius's scarred soul, or will he spend eternity alone in anguish?
Urban Fantasy
Lost Souls: Resurrection - Episode 1 on Amazon
Christian Thompson is killed but refuses to pass into the afterlife because of his need to shelter his daughter from her cruel mother. He soon discovers there are others like him, other spirits trapped between the world of the living and the dead. He joins the Lost Souls in their struggle against a dark evil that threatens them all.
Lost Souls: Imperfection – Episode 2 on Amazon
Sam and her brother Ben, along with their new friend Christian, have just defied the leader of the Lost Souls. Outcast from their former group, the three of them battle the dark forces of the Changed on their own. With the help of their old friend, Eugene, they investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of their Lost Soul brethren. As the investigation deepens, they come to the chilling realization that their nemesis, Scala, has escaped his centuries-old prison with revenge on his twisted mind. A demonic possession leads to grave consequences and the Lost Souls must make a difficult choice between life and death for an innocent victim.
Lost Souls: Deception - Episode 3 on Amazon
Sam, Ben and Christian continue to battle the dark forces of the Changed, the inhuman monsters who feed on the energy of their Lost Soul brethren. After receiving surprising news about the whereabouts of Sam and Ben’s sister Cora, they arrive at a friend’s to investigate. As their search deepens, Ben becomes consumed with trying to save Cora, taking a very dangerous path that puts himself and everyone around him in jeopardy. Treachery and deception threaten their group as they discover nothing is as it seems…
Lost Souls: Altercation - Episode 4 on Amazon
Sam and Christian have mysteriously disappeared. An unlikely group of allies is formed as Damien, Ben and Eugene search for their missing friends. With the calming presence of Sam gone from his life, the urge to make the Jump into a human grows dangerously strong inside of Damien. To add to their anguish, a powerful new menace threatens destruction for both Souls and humans alike. Can they find Sam in time to stop Damien from making the Jump? Can they stop this new foe from gaining strength and building a deadly following? Read Lost Souls – Altercation to find out!
Lost Souls: Suspicion - Episode 5 on Amazon
As the Souls try to discover who their nemesis, Scala, has possessed, Sam fights inner doubts and demons. The Souls look to Sam to lead them, but can she find the courage to save her brother and her friends from their most challenging enemy or will her suspicions doom them all?
Get Lost Souls Episodes 1-4 in a convenient boxed set on Amazon!
Lost Souls Boxed Set on Amazon
For more information on any of these books or other novels by Laurel O'Donnell, please visit her website at www.laurel-odonnell.com, or follow her Amazon author page.
The Highlander's Challenge
Madeline Martin
Copyright
The Highlander's Challenge Copyright © by Madeline Martin
All rights reserved. No part of this romance ebook may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews – without permission in writing from its author, Madeline Martin.
The characters and events portrayed in this historical romance novel are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Apart from well-known historical figures, any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Bio of Story (The Highlander’s Challenge)
Bridget de Vere is on the battlefield with her brother when he’s slain, and she sees exactly which warrior has taken his life. Her vow for vengeance comes in a curious form when she finds herself betrothed to the very man who killed him, Aidan MacAlister.
Aidan has assumed the role of parent to his two younger siblings after their parents' deaths. In an effort to secure a tenuous Scottish English alliance, he is ordered to wed the only daughter of an English earl. Aidan’s acquiescence affords him land and a home for his family. He is surprised to learn the woman he is to wed is none other than the female warrior he allowed to live on the battlefield some years before. He is further surprised when he realizes his wife means to kill him.
Hatred and desire clash together in sizzling passion as Bridget and Aidan discover more about one another, and realize sometimes danger lurks where it is least expected.
CHAPTER ONE
March 1327
Northumbria, England
Being the sole daughter of the Earl of Northumbria did not stop Bridget de Vere from fighting alongside her brothers as a knight.
People swarmed around her in a chaotic crush of bodies and fogged breath in the cold air. War cries and grunts filled her ears, along with the sharp ring of metal on metal.
A man showed in her line of sight through the slit in her armored helmet and lunged. She blocked the blow with her blade, but even if his large broadsword had hit, it would do little more than glance off her fine armor.
Bridget's brothers fought at her side, defending Castle Quelling against the Scottish attack. The raids were becoming more frequent.
Bridget cut down the man in front of her, only to find another in his place. Her muscles sang with strength and lent to her attacks the kind of power that heightened her confidence.
She and her brothers trained hard for long hours every day, but there was no better combat training than war. In fact, it had been at her brothers’ insistence Father finally allowed her to join.
She swung her sword at the man, but he leapt back. The braids plaited in his wild hair flew around his face and he opened his mouth in a bellowing war cry.
Before he could rush at her once more, a knight in gilded armor stepped in his
path and delivered a death blow.
Richard.
Bridget's sigh echoed within her helmet, a hiss of air over the sounds of war. The youngest of all the brothers and only a year older than she, he'd taken it upon himself to be her personal guardian.
If Bridget didn't have a helmet on, she'd shoot him a glare.
Several feet away, a Scot stood over the body of one of the Castle Quelling guards. Bridget raced toward the barbarian to attack, eager to fight on her own and be away from Richard and his unwanted chivalry.
The Scot spun toward her as she approached and whipped his blade hard toward her. Bridget feinted right, then attacked left. The Scot staggered backward with blood blooming against his chest.
A fatal blow.
She would say a prayer for his soul that night. The same as she did for all the men she killed while defending their home.
Shouts of alarm pulled her attention away from the dying Scot and back to where Richard had been.
Horror sent her heart lurching into her throat. Her brother was on his knees, the blade of an axe buried through the heavy plate of his armor and into his shoulder and chest.
The man standing over him was a massive Scot with brown hair pulled back from his face. He braced his foot on Richard's noble chest and pulled the axe blade free. The sword slipped from Richard’s hand and fell uselessly to the frost-tipped grass below.
Bridget ran forward, screaming a protest no one else could hear. She had to save him, she had to kill the man before he—
The Scot brought his axe down once more, and the armor protecting her brother's head collapsed inward.
The breath sucked from her chest and her knees almost gave out.
Blood spurted from the split metal and Richard, her beautiful, chivalrous brother whose heart shone with a goodness greater than any other, pitched forward toward the ground. He landed on his face and went still as blood pooled around him.
No.
No.
No.
The Scot pulled the axe free and her brother's body jerked at the savage removal. His murderer shifted his gaze to her, his gaze filled with hatred. A puff of frozen air huffed from his mouth.
Bridget's soul burned with the need for vengeance. The scream of anguish rasped in her throat and fueled her body into attack. Someone knocked into her and she spun around.
Good training helped her right herself once more and spin around to seek out her attacker. Her brother's killer.
Oh God, Richard.
She searched around her, unable to find him. Her breath came in panicked pants and whooshed around her. If only she had the ability to see more from under the helmet. If only the man would show himself.
If only Richard was not dead.
It was the first time in a fight where the breathless stabs of fear pierced her solid sensibilities.
Richard was dead.
Awareness tingled down her spine and she snapped to the left, narrowly avoiding the swing of an axe. The large Scot with brown hair stood in front of her once more. Now she was seeing the beast up close for the first time.
His green eyes tightened with concentrated effort. One of his eyebrows was bisected by an old scar long since healed.
He swung again, but she deflected and launched her own attack. Vengeance fired through her and left every part of her searing with the need to kill this man.
“Fortiter,” he bellowed.
The MacAlister war cry – he was a MacAlister.
Her blade flew in front of her, thrusting and slashing with all the pain burning through her heart. The Scot backed up from her attacks, barely staying ahead of her moves long enough to block his death away with the large axe.
Something caught her foot. In a moment of horror, she realized it was Richard's lifeless body.
The one hesitation was all the Highlander needed. He swung his axe toward her head. She ducked hard to the right, but the blow clanged against her helmet and ripped it free. Sunlight flashed in her eyes, so brilliant it rendered her blind while the world fell from under her feet.
And everything went dark.
#
Aidan MacAlister stared down at the fallen knight before him. The woman had donned the armor of a man and fought like a demon flown straight out of hell.
She did not move from where she lay beside the dead knight. A deep gash showed on her jaw where either her helmet or the axe had cut deep into her ivory skin. The blow had not been a killing one. He'd seen enough war to know as much.
He should kill her. One more English dead.
Her hair spilled like midnight over the ground and her bonny face relaxed as though she were sleeping.
He should kill her.
An Englishman would slay an unconscious woman in Scotland, after all. In fact, many of them had done exactly so.
Aidan turned from the woman before he could change his mind. He was better than his enemy.
He would let the bitch live.
CHAPTER TWO
July 1329
Castle Quelling
“Marry me.”
Bridget stared up into Sir Thomas de Lacy's earnest gaze. He was hopelessly handsome with his square jaw and full lips. His pale blue eyes searched hers, as if he might find the answer to his request there.
It ought to be treasonous for a man to possess such long lashes.
He was, by far, the most attractive knight in all of England. While he was not poor, he wasn't extremely wealthy, either. Still, any woman would give her eye teeth to be standing in her position.
“No.” She could not help the smile curling her lips even as she spoke. “You know I cannot.”
He grasped her hand. His long, tapered fingers curled over hers beneath the warmth of his palm. “You know you want to.”
This time Bridget gave in to the temptation of laughter. “You know I do not.”
Thomas dropped her hand and covered his chest. “You'll break my heart, madam.”
“You haven't a heart to break and we both know it.” She offered a coy smirk.
Thomas staggered backward through the garden and sat down hard on a stone bench. Several people nearby stopped talking and turned toward him. More than one lady smiled in his direction - and had their smiles readily returned.
Bridget sank onto the bench beside him with a chastising look. The sharp aroma of rosemary hovered delicately in the air. “You shouldn't be so dramatic.”
“I disagree when you'd rather marry a barbarian than me.” The seriousness to his expression disquieted her.
“You know I haven't a say in the matter.” She kept her gaze fixed on him despite the temptation to look away and sever the solemnity widening between them.
While true, her impending marriage was about more than not having a say. It was about revenge.
Her father was answering a request made by the king personally to wed his eldest daughter to a Scotsman in an effort to secure the fragile new alliance established between the two countries. But not to just any Scotsman - the man who had killed Richard.
She remembered the MacAlister she battled well. Even two years later, she could recall everything about his face. From what her father described of her husband-to-be, this was the man she had fought - from his green eyes to the scar cutting through his eyebrow.
Thomas leaned closer, and the spice of his imported perfume surrounded her. “But you don't want to go to Scotland.”
“I'll do as I'm bid by my parents.”
He laughed, and she knew he didn't believe her. They both knew how flimsy the paltry claim had been when she seldom did anything her parents bid.
His face smoothed into a serious expression once more. “Marry me.” He put his hand over hers, pinning her to the bench with the affectionate gesture. He was staring intently at her.
Too intently.
Her heart hammered in her chest.
“Marry me, Lady Bridget, my beautiful Rose of the de Veres.”
Rose of the de Veres - it was a name affectionately bes
towed upon her by the court as she was the only daughter of the de Vere family. Hearing Thomas say it now with his all-too-real marriage proposal made her stomach clench.
Thomas met her eyes. “I love you.”
Bridget shook her head. “No.” This time there was no smile, no tickling gaiety. For this time, she realized he'd been serious.
“I'll protect you from leaving for Scotland. I'll secure a bit of land for us and love you—”
“No.” Bridget stood and tried not to let her heart crumple at the wounded light in Thomas' blue eyes. “I do not love you. Not in that way.” She said it gently, but even soft words could not keep the hurt from a truthful admission.
They had grown up closely beside each other. Bridget had always perceived him with the same affection she had her own brothers. To consider loving him romantically…
She shook her head. There was too much knowledge to even want to love him in such a way. Nothing but heartache would follow any woman who dared fall in love with Thomas de Lacy and his distracted admiration.
“Bridget.” He said her name in a choked voice.
Her own throat squeezed hard against the knowledge of having left him so hurt. She turned from him and strode through the sunlit garden. Tomorrow she would leave for Scotland. Tomorrow she would never see Thomas again.
“I wondered when that might happen.” A soft voice pulled at her attention and tore through the unwanted thoughts.
Her Aunt Aubrey sat in the shade of several trees. Her father’s eldest sister was not often able to visit, but Bridget always enjoyed it when she did.
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