by Hazel Gower
The Laird's Future Bride by Hazel Gower
The Laird's Future Bride
The MacLeod Clan
Book One
by Hazel Gower
© Copyright January 2014 JK Publishing, Inc.
ISBN#9781311894069
All cover art and logo © Copyright January 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Edited by Kimberly Morgan
Artwork by Jess Buffett
Published by JK Publishing, Inc.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
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Dedication
To my amazing family, thank you for encouraging me to follow my dreams. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful husband and awesome children. To my best friend, Jess Buffett, I love you, thanks for putting up with me.
A huge thank you to my editor, Kimberly Morgan, for helping this book shine. Lastly, thank you to JK Publishing for taking on my first time travel romance.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
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
Books by Hazel Gower
JK Publishing Inc.
Excerpt from the Tyrant's Keep
Prologue
The seer ran. She’d watched her mother burn before her and had been told she was next, but she’d escaped. The seer kenned she needed to find a safe haven, a place where she would be protected. She’d heard through a healer a while ago that gifted people were moving to the MacLeods, a clan who protected everyone no matter what ye were. The seer decided that was where she would go. She wanted to be safe.
Once she decided, the universe guided her where she needed to go. It took her close to a sennight to get to the MacLeods and as soon as she reached their borders, a feeling of peace and safety washed over her. She took an easier pace the rest of the way to the keep to ask the laird’s permission to live amongst his clan. When she arrived a day later, she was welcomed. Laird Robert and Lady Magan were kind enough to give her a position at the castle.
As the seer was leaving, two young lads ran to the laird and lady. “Mother, Da,” they said in unison. It was then that she had a vision. She saw the two boys growing up, sharing everything. The younger helped the older to lead, and they trusted each other with a fierce loyalty. Then she saw them as grown men and two paths flashed before her. One where the men never married and remained the closest of brothers, the MacLeods feuding with all their neighbors and many dying. A scary path because neither married, and the MacLeod line soon died out, making the lands a safe haven no more to gifted people.
The second path was promising, but came with a downfall. A beautiful girl, with long raven hair and big brown eyes being brought through time by magic, Lady Magan’s magic. The girl would bring peace and have a magic of her own. She would also be a soul mate to one child, but the other child would also fall in love with the girl, and the two brothers would be torn apart.
The seer came out of the vision and looked around the room. She kenned that half the people were gifted, a lot of people to put in peril. The seer looked at the boys, one with bright red hair like his father, the other blond like his mother. They each had magic. The seer couldn’t let the first path come to pass. She would help the second path come true, but she would use her knowledge to make sure the rift between the brothers didn’t become permanent.
The seer looked to Lady Magan and decided to befriend her, to help the second path come true. The MacLeods wouldn’t die out. The seer would make sure they would be around to protect the gifted for years to come.
Her path decided, she walked out of the keep and to the cottage they told her was vacant. The seer had a plan. A purpose.
Chapter One
“I wonder if I kill my best friend but explain everything that led to me doing the deed, would that get me off?” Holly muttered as the rain pelted down on her. She was an easygoing person, but the nonstop rain on her holiday was getting her down. Holly moved the satchel bag Jane had convinced her to get to go with the costumes she’d bought for the weekend across her chest. She gathered up the ridiculous 1500s period dress with one hand to stop it from getting covered in mud. Gripping the small weekend suitcase with her other hand, she walked as fast as she could to the castle.
She looked around the lush green Scottish countryside as she walked to the massive stone castle. The stunning castle looked like it came out of a fairytale with its lush gardens and tall stone wall surrounding it. The castle’s back was to the water of the Isle of Skye. It was a perfect picture.
Since Holly had gotten out of the taxi, the rain had intensified to a downpour. She wished Jane hadn’t gotten sick. The weekend costume party was more her thing than Holly’s. Lightning flashed across the water in the distance, and Holly’s heart skipped a beat.
“Let’s go to Scotland before we start university,” Jane had said. “It will be fu
n to go there for Valentine’s Day. We could meet a sexy Scottish rogue.”
Holly loved her best friend. Jane had been there for her over the last year, helping her manage after the deaths of her parents. Holly was an only child, and had been really close with her parents. They had called her their miracle baby. Holly’s mother had been a year off forty when she’d had her, and her father was in his fifties. They had been the best parents anyone could ask for. Holly did everything with them, so much so that she never really had any rebellious teen years. They laughed when Jane got her into trouble with one of her ideas, like this one.
“I swear, this will be the last time I listen to Jane. She gets sick, and I have to go to this silly party by myself. I told her we should have gone to a hot place like Vanuatu or Bali, but no. Jane always has to be different,” Holly grumbled to the sky, not expecting it to answer with more lightning. Holly would admit, though, that Jane’s spontaneous craziness was the thing that kept them best friends. Holly always wished she could be more like her friend.
Holly’s shoes squelched in the mud as she walked up the pathway to the castle. “Stupid cab. How can they live in this godforsaken country and still have cars that get stuck in the mud?” Holly smiled grimly as the lightning strike hit the water as if in agreement. Holly was sick of the rain. Since she and Jane had arrived in Scotland, it seemed it had done nothing but rain. On a positive note, at least the wheels of her small suitcase weren’t getting stuck in the mud.
“Why the hell am I still going to this idiotic Valentine costume party weekend alone?” Holly yelled as she tripped over a stone. The sky roared, and lightning slashed across the sky and hit the ground within meters of her. Okay…that has to be a sign. Holly turned to head back down the muddy driveway only to scream when lightning slammed in front of her. Spinning back around, she dropped the dress and gripped the suitcase tighter, needing to hold onto something as she ran for the castle with the lightning chasing her.
Holly prayed that if she lived, she would enjoy her much needed holiday, meet a sexy Scotsman and finally get laid. It would be memorable and special with someone from a different country. Holly was a virgin. She was reluctant to give in and do the deed, as Jane called it, with just anyone. Holly had heard too many stories about how people wished they waited for someone special. Even Holly’s own mother had told her she wished she’d waited for Holly’s father.
“You always remember the first person you have sex with, even if you try hard not to,” her mother had said.
Even Jane had said she wished she’d saved it for the boyfriend she had now. Holly wanted to learn from other people’s mistakes. She’d held off, determined to keep it for someone special. When her parents had died almost a year ago, only a week before her eighteenth birthday, she’d closed herself off from everyone and mourned. Holly promised herself, though, if she lived through this and made it into the castle without being struck by lightning, she would give it up to the first man she saw.
Lightning slashed right in front of her, and she screamed. It seemed to be all around her, a circle of white flashing light. Holly froze, then spun to see the lightning surround her until all she could see was white flashing lights. The ground shook and became more uneven beneath her. Moving her feet further apart to stabilize herself, she watched as the lightning smashed to the earth. Terrified, Holly dared not even blink, fearing she would miss her chance to escape and run to freedom.
After what felt like hours, but what was probably only seconds, the lightning stopped in front of her and the castle doors came into view. Holly let go of the suitcase and ran like her life depended on it. When she reached the doors, she pulled one of them open only to smash into a hard surface. Before she could fall, arms came around her.
“Och now, lass, I’ve got ye.”
The strong Scottish brogue sent shivers coursing through her. Holly stared up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, set into a strong masculine face, with high cheekbones, and a sharp chin, with bushy red eyebrows matching a fiery red mane. Her shivering cold, wet body felt so soft against his warm broad, muscular chest. What did he do for a living? He was bloody huge and towered over her five foot two, which wasn’t hard, she thought a little incoherently.
Clearing her suddenly dry throat, she calmed her racing heart by taking deep breaths, moaning when she remembered her promise if she got free. This guy would sure be special to be her first, if he weren’t married. A strong woodsy smell invaded her senses, and her whole body came alive. Horrified at her response to a stranger, she held her breath. Oh, no, the man who held her, and who currently looked down at her with amusement clear in his eyes and on his face, was the heavenly smell she smelt, and she’d just been sniffing him and breathing him in like he was her last breath.
Giving a huff of embarrassment, Holly pushed at his chest. “Thanks for the help. I’m going to go find the loo and freshen up. Ahh…ladies’ room, and clean myself up.”
Holly watched the man’s eyebrows furrow. His piercing blue eyes felt like they could see into her soul, and she shivered at the sensation of his intense stare.
“Lass, I dinna know what loo ladies room is.”
Holly groaned. “Sorry. I keep forgetting Australians use different words for things. The bathroom facilities? The toilet?” He still didn’t look like he was sure of what she meant. “I need to go to the…” she pointed to her private parts and made a whizzing noise.
“Ye need to use the garderobe, the chamber pot?”
Holly knew her eyes widened; surely he meant a toilet. Feeling the heat grow on her cheeks, she nodded, hoping he would show her where she could freshen up.
“I was just heading out to meet me men for training. I find meself wanting to stay now. Where did ye come from? I canna see ye're escort. I have nay sent for anyone, and I know me mother has nay bride candidate coming. I think she’s finally given up. Thank God.” He ran his fingers through his thick red mane. “Ye are dressed in ye're finery.” He glanced behind her. “King James, did he send ye? He’s given me orders to marry before the year is out. Ye're accent is strange, though. Where did he send for ye from?”
What the hell was the guy going on about? Holly turned behind her to see if a camera crew was filming this for something, but what she saw had her gasping. Everything looked different. There were buildings Holly was sure hadn’t been there when she walked up to the castle through the storm. Holly moved past the large man, entered the castle, and froze. It was mostly empty except for a few men and women milling about dressed similarly to the man and her.
Holly groaned and hoped she wasn’t too early for the party, or hadn’t interrupted something, like a movie or TV show being filmed. Holly had wanted to leave extra early to be sure she found the place and could fix herself up and get warm if the rain messed her up. “I’m sorry. Am I early for the party?”
She turned back to the man, who frowned. “What party, lass?”
“The Valentine party.” She rummaged through her satchel, pulling out her iPod, wallet, some makeup, mobile phone, camera, and a cloak, until she felt the invitation at the bottom. “Aha. Here it is.”
She put the gold invitation in his hands only for him to drop it and take a step back away from her. He was now completely white as he stared wide-eyed at her. “Are you okay?” She touched his arm, as a feeling of concern for this man washed over her.
“Ah, lass, I’m sorry, she was nay meant to use her magic ever again,” the man muttered. Then he looked around the huge hall, paused, picked up the invitation, and yelled, “Mother! Mother! Get here now!”
Unsure of what was going on, Holly studied the huge room around her. The stone walls were covered with three different large tapestries. Another wall had fancy weapons mounted. The room had a bunch of long tables, most with long benches. Only one table, at the top end of the big hall, had chairs. The floor was covered in what looked like straw.
Maybe Jane had tricked her and booked some kind of re-enactment weekend instead of a party. J
ane always thought she needed to have more fun, and said Holly shouldn’t let the death of her parents rule her life. Holly knew Jane meant well, but it hadn’t even been a full year since they’d died.
Holly turned back to the man in front of her, easily six feet tall, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles. His blue eyes glared toward the far left corner of the room, where a woman in blue was hurrying to them. The woman was small like Holly. Her hair was covered with a white cloth, but Holly could see her blond eyebrows as she came close to the man.
“Mother, explain why this lass is here.” The big man crossed his arm over his chest and narrowed his eyes on the petite woman.
“Why, son, I have nay idea what ye mean. Why would I know why this lass is here?” Holly would have believed the woman innocent except for the sparkle of mischief in her big green eyes.
The large redheaded man sighed and pulled both Holly and the petite woman toward the back of the castle, large hands gripping each of them by the arm. The man’s touch sent strange tingles coursing through her. Holly tried to break his hold and hoped she wasn’t coming down with what Jane had.
He stopped at a door on his left and pushed them into a room, then shut the door and turned to them both. “I am sorry for what has happened to ye, lass.” He glared at his mother and whispered so low Holly barely heard, “Mother, if ye get caught, ye will be burnt for witchcraft. Ye know King James is terrified of witches. So tell me now. What have ye done?”
The woman gave a huff, ignored her son’s question, and turned her attention to her. “Where are ye from, lass?”
