“The bloody hell it is no’,” he said, stepping toward her.
Mariote refused to back down. “The bloody hell it is,” she said.
For years, every decision she had ever made had been born out of a sense of logic or practicality. And the one time she had acted on her feelings instead of her good sense, she ends up in a hunters croft, surrounded by her father, a priest, and the one man she could always call friend. And as it had been for the entirety of her life, she was being told what she should do.
“Again, I tell ye, I will marry fer love or no’ at all. ‘Twill be a man of me own chosin’. And quit smilin’ at me, Lachlan MacCally! This is no’ funny!”
Shrugging one shoulder he said, “But I find ye amusin’. And I will marry ye.”
A growl built deep in her stomach. Letting it loose, she said, “Ye be the most confounding, pig-headed, ignorant fool I have ever had the displeasure of knowin’!”
He continued to smile at her. “There are other reasons, besides savin’ yer reputation, fer wantin’ to marry ye,” he said.
Stunned into momentary silence, she studied him closely. “Other reasons?” she asked incredulously. “What other possible reason could ye have to want to marry me?”
Without so much as a may I please, Lachlan grabbed her about her waist and pulled her in. Mariote’s gasp of surprise was short-lived, for he pressed his lips to hers.
’Twas not a chaste, quick kiss. Nay, this kiss bordered on sinful. When he nibbled at her lower lip, she tried to protest. But the moment she tried to speak, he thrust his tongue into her mouth, delicately touching hers.
It stole her breath away.
It made her feel weak, no stronger than honey left in the sun. The anger she felt only moments ago fell away with the mere touch of his lips against hers.
Had he not had such a tight hold on her, she might very well have swooned.
All too soon, he ended the kiss by pulling away. “Do ye need any more reasons?” he asked, a glint of the devil shining in his bright eyes.
Nay, she did not think she did.
He pressed his forehead against hers. “Now will ye agree to marry me?” he asked.
She nodded once. “But only if ye promise to kiss me like that again,” she said breathlessly. “And by again, I mean more than once!”
His soft chuckle made her heart swell with a sensation she had never felt before. Though she couldn’t be certain just yet, she thought she might very well be in love with this man. After all the mistakes she had made this day, it wouldn’t do to start professing her love to him. He probably wouldn’t believe her.
Epilogue
Mariote’s Yuletide wish might not have come true, but Lachlan’s had.
As the priest began the ceremony in the auld hunter’s croft, with Alysander as witness, Lachlan could not help but think back to that Yule Tide Eve. He’d made the same wish he’d been making ever since meeting Mariote for the first time.
I wish to have her as me wife.
’Twas something he had been praying for for a long while. And when that bright star had flow across the night sky, he’d wished it once again.
She was beautiful, his Mariote. With hair the color of gold, and eyes as green as summer grass, she was a sight to behold. Her fingers trembled when the priest draped the bit of plaid around their hands. Her voice cracked when she said her vows, but say them she did.
When ’twas all over, he kissed her again, more sweetly than before. God was apparently in a most giving mood, for the moment he kissed her as his wife, the snow stopped falling and the wind took away the gray clouds. They’d not have to spend their wedding night surrounded by fifty highlanders, cooped up in a dirty hunter’s croft.
’Twas long after the midnight hour by the time they reached the McCullum keep. Mariote rode atop his lap, wrapped in his arms and his plaid. He vowed silently to always keep her safe and protected. To love her until the day he took his last breath on this earth and beyond even that.
He could not express those feelings to her just yet. Nay, he would tell her when they were alone, away from prying eyes and ears. He could only hope and pray he could say them as eloquently as what had been written to her in those blasted letters.
’Twas highly unlikely, for he was a warrior.
But he was certainly willing to give it a try.
Prologue - Esa
Esa
As a little girl, Esa McCullum had been a quiet, thoughtful child, who was protective of her sisters. ‘Twasn’t until Alysander McCullum adopted Moirra Dundotters four daughters that Esa began to blossom. Since Moirra married Alysander, they had increased the number of their family by four. Twin boys, Hugh and Andrew, aged 9, followed a year later by another son named Jamie. Two years later, they had a daughter. Little Alysandria was seven years old and the spitting image of her father.
Esa had turned into a beautiful young woman, with golden hair and bright green eyes. Of the four daughters, she was the one who most resembled their mother. But the similarities ended there.
Whereas her mother was able to speak her mind clearly and thoughtfully, Esa often tripped over her own tongue. While her mother was logical and sensible, Esa was prone to flights of fancy. So much so that her sisters often rolled their eyes at her in frustration.
Her fanciful daydreaming got her into more trouble than she cared to admit. On more than one occasion, search parties had to be sent out for her, for she had wandered too far from the keep and had gotten lost.
As much as she tried to convince her family — more specifically her father — that she hadn’t been lost, merely unable to be found, they would not listen. It got to the point where she was not allowed beyond the walls without one of her sisters to keep an eye on her.
Because she was not nearly as studious as Mariote or Muriale, her parents’ attempt to give her a proper education seemed to be a tremendous waste of money and their tutor’s time. She could read and write well enough and could cipher when the need arose. But she would never be a scholarly sort of lass.
Esa preferred being out of doors, no matter the weather. She loved studying flowers and herbs and the like. While she appreciated the beauty of these things, she wanted to know as much as she could about why one flower would flourish near a loch but would die if transplanted into the dense forest. She wanted to know why one herb could bring down a fever whilst another could lead to death.
More curious than most about the why of something, her inquisitive nature often left others wondering about the soundness of her mind.
As she grew older, she discovered a new species she wanted to study more than flowers, herbs, or trees.
Lads.
They were, by far, the most fascinating of God’s creatures.
The older she grew older, the more fascinating the lads became. By the time she reached the age of four and ten, she had fallen in love with so many lads that her mother worried over her. Ye can no’ fall in love every other day, Esa,her mother would say. ’Tis no’ really love ye be feelin’, daughter.
Esa couldn’t understand her mother’s meaning. If it wasn’t love, then what was it? What other than love could make her heart beat rapidly, or her stomach feel as if she’d swallowed a bucket of eels? What else, besides love, could make her heart feel so light and happy? Nay, her mother simply couldn’t understand.
If ye be no’ cautious, ye will gain a poor reputation,her older sister Mariote would warn her with some frequency. Esa wondered how being a kind, giving, and loving person could lead to a poor reputation?
Nay, not one of her sisters or parents understood her or the ease with which she could love another person. It mattered not, she supposed, for someday very soon, she would win the heart of a proper and good man. They would marry and she would have many children. She promised herself that no matter how many children she had, she would never caution them not to follow their heart.
Also by Suzan Tisdale
The Clan MacDougall Series
Laiden
’s Daughter
Findley’s Lass
Wee William’s Woman
McKenna’s Honor
* * *
The Clan Graham Series
Rowan’s Lady
Frederick’s Queen
* * *
The Mackintoshes and McLarens Series
Ian’s Rose
The Bowie Bride
Rodrick the Bold
Brogan’s Promise
* * *
The Clan McDunnah Series
A Murmur of Providence
A Whisper of Fate
A Breath of Promise
* * *
Moirra’s Heart Series
Stealing Moirra’s Heart
Saving Moirra’s Heart
* * *
Stand Alone Novels
Isle of the Blessed
Forever Her Champion
The Edge of Forever
* * *
Arriving in 2019:
Black Richard’s Heart
* * *
The Brides of the Clan MacDougall
(A Sweet Series)
Aishlinn
Maggy
Nora
* * *
December 2018:
The MacAllens and Randalls:
Secrets of the Heart
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author, storyteller and cheeky wench, SUZAN TISDALE lives in the Midwest with her verra handsome carpenter husband. All but one of her children have left the nest. Her pets consist of dust bunnies and a dozen poodle-sized, backyard-dwelling groundhogs – all of which run as free and unrestrained as the voices in her head. And she doesn’t own a single pair of yoga pants, much to the shock and horror of her fellow authors. She prefers to write in her pajamas.
Suzan writes Scottish historical romance/fiction, with honorable and perfectly imperfect heroes and strong, feisty heroines. And bad guys she kills off in delightfully wicked ways.
She published her first novel, Laiden’s Daughter, in December, 2011, as a gift for her mother. That one book started a journey which has led to fifteen published titles, with two more being released in the spring of 2017. To date, she has sold more than 350,000 copies of her books around the world. They have been translated into four foreign languages (Italian, French, German, and Spanish.)
You will find her books in digital, paperback, and audiobook formats.
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