Highland
Guard Murray
Family # 20
By:
Hannah Howell
Releasing
March 3rd, 2015
Zebra
Blurb
New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell brings back the daring Murray family in a brand-new tale of dangerous love rekindled. . .
New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell brings back the daring Murray family in a brand-new tale of dangerous love rekindled. . .
Lady
Annys MacQueen has no other choice. The deception that enabled her to
keep her lands safe is on the verge of being revealed by a cruel
kinsman. To shield her young son from the sword and her people from
devastation, she must turn to the one man she could never forget. . .
He
lives for duty and honor. So the only way Sir Harcourt Murray could
repay the laird who saved his life was to agree to father a child
with Sir MacQueen's wife. . .Lady Annys. Now the passion he still
feels for the lovely strong-willed widow is as all-consuming and
perilous as securing her lands. But to convince her that his love is
forever real means confronting her most wrenching fears--and putting
everything they treasure most at stake. .
Link
to Follow Tour:
http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/01/highland-guard-murray-family-20-by.html
Goodreads
Link:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22459021-highland-guard?from_search=true
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/41630-murray-family
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/41630-murray-family
Author
Info
Hannah
D. Howell is a highly regarded and prolific romance writer. Since
Amber Flame, her first historical romance, was released in February
1988, she has published 25 novels and short stories, with more on the
way. Her writing has been repeatedly recognized for its excellence
and has "made Waldenbooks Romance Bestseller list a time or two"
as well as was nominated twice by Romantic Times for Best Medieval
Romance (Promised Passion and Elfking's Lady). She has also won
Romantic Times' Best British Isles Historical Romance for Beauty and
the Beast; and, in 1991-92 she received Romantic Times' Career
Achievement Award for Historical Storyteller of the Year.
Hannah
was born and raised in Massachusetts (the maternal side of her family
has been there since the 1630's). She has been married to her husband
Stephen for 28 years, who she met in England while visiting
relatives, and decided to import him. They have two sons Samuel, 27,
and Keir, 24. She is addicted to crocheting, reads and plays piano,
attempts to garden, and collects things like dolls, faerie and cat
figurines, and music boxes. She also seems to collect cats, as she
now has four of them, Clousseau, Banshee, Spooky, and Oliver
Cromwell.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorHannahHowell
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/97228.Hannah_Howell
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/97228.Hannah_Howell
Excerpt;
Annys
nodded and then politely excused herself. It was early to turn in for
the night but she needed some time alone. Seeing Sir Harcourt again,
realizing he could still stir a fire in her blood, and discovering
that someone could have murdered David was all she could bear for
now. She needed time to just be alone, to think about it all, and
sort through her confused emotions.
It was
not until she entered her bedchamber that she realized Joan had
followed her. Annys told herself she had no reason to be surprised by
that. The woman did act as her maid after all. Yet she had taken no
notice of Joan falling into step behind her. She said nothing as Joan
helped her prepare for bed. Sitting still before a fire while Joan
brushed out her hair worked to ease a lot of the knots in her belly,
however, and Annys was soon glad the woman had followed her.
“Dinnae
let it prey on you, m’lady,” Joan said as she sat down beside
Annys.
“I
dinnae want it to but I am nay sure I can stop it.” Annys stood and
moved to her bed, sitting on the edge so that Joan could lightly
braid her hair for the night. “So much has happened today. Mayhap
it is just that I am unaccustomed to so many disturbances in my
life.”
Joan
laughed softly. “Weel, six verra handsome men coming in answer to
your request for aid is certainly disturbing. It would be to any lass
with blood in her veins.”
“True
and it will be verra hard to keep the maids in hand while they are
here.” She looked at Joan.
“But
ye ken why I find one of them more disturbing than all the others,
aye?”
“He
is as handsome as he was all those years ago.”
“And
looks so verra much like Benet.”
“Only
if ye ken to look for it.” She patted Annys’s arm when she saw
the woman’s look of doubt. “Truly. Our laird had black hair and
brown eyes. And ye have that touch of gold in your eyes. Any other
features that may match Sir Harcourt’s willnae show for many a year
yet. But, in truth, there is a strong similarity betwixt him and our
poor laird. The mon is just bigger, stronger, than Sir David e’er
was.”
“Are
ye just saying such things to ease my worries?”
“Nay.
’Tis the truth. Only if ye ken what we do can ye look and see it.
If ye dinnae ken that he bred the lad, weel, then it isnae so clear
to see.”
Annys
sighed in relief. “Good. That is a trouble I dinnae need.”
“Nay,
ye have enough to deal with now. I think ye should write to Sir
Adam’s sire and tell him what that fool son of his is doing.”
When
Joan stood up, Annys settled herself in her bed as she thought over
that suggestion. “And how
can I
be certain his father isnae the one prodding him to do this?”
“Ye
will ken it by what the mon says in reply.”
“Ah,
there is that. It cannae make matters any worse, I suspect. I will
think on what to say. Sleep weel, Joan. I forsee a verra busy time
ahead for us.”
“If
only because we have six big knights to feed and tend to.”
Annys
laughed softly and made herself more comfortable in her bed as Joan
left. She thought on Sir
Callum’s
suggestion that poison may have caused her husband’s death, unable
to banish the thought as she wished to. Having spent so many years at
Glencullaich she found it hard to believe that anyone would hurt
David. She did not even understand why Sir Adam would have done such
a thing for it was not enough to place Glencullaich in his hands.
There was still Benet standing between him and the laird’s seat.
That
thought chilled her to the bone. If she accepted, or even proved,
that David had been murdered, then her child was in terrible danger.
If Sir Adam could get to David then he could get to Benet. He could
claim his hands were clean if accused of poisoning David for he had
not actually done the deed. All he needed was a way to be able to
claim the same thing when he struck at Benet.
Her
growing fear for her child made it impossible to sleep. Annys got up
and pulled on a robe. She moved into the small room where there was a
door that let her go up on the battlements. A pang of grief went
through her as she opened the door and heard the soft bell ring.
David had been so pleased when he had arranged that warning to the
men on the walls. It had allowed them some privacy if they chose to
go outside at night. She had never appreciated it more than she did
now.
Climbing
the narrow stone stairs, Annys fought to calm her fears. She could
find reasons for someone to betray them all by helping Adam rid
Glencullaich of its laird. Yet, try as she would, she could find none
for anyone helping him murder a small child. She simply could not
believe any of the people she knew would be capable of such a heinous
crime. If she did not convince herself to accept that possibility,
however, she would be putting her son’s life in danger.
Resting
her arms on top of the wall, Annys looked out over the moonlit lands
of Glencullaich. She had no trouble at all in understanding Sir
Adam’s greed for the place. It was too far from the border to
suffer from raids, and too out of the way of the roads to the cities
or the king’s court to have to worry overmuch about an enemy force
sweeping through. It was good land and well watered. A man would not
have to work hard to have a very comfortable life here, a rare thing
in Scotland. David had even managed to keep them out of any local
feuds.
Sir
Adam MacQueen was not a man to appreciate such things, however, she
decided. He would settle into Glencullaich and immediately want more.
He was also of a temperament to tangle the clan up in feuds with the
neighboring clans. Yet, she could think of no way to get him to end
his quest to gain hold of the lands.
“Weel,
I could just kill the fool,” she muttered.
“Kill
who?” asked a deep voice from right behind her.
Annys
squeaked in alarm and looked behind her. She was relieved to see that
it was Harcourt but also annoyed that he had frightened her. The way
he looked at her as she stood there in her nightclothes wept both
feelings aside, leaving her struggling to crush the warmth of welcome
and womanly interest.
“Who
do ye think ye should just kill?” he asked again as he stepped up
beside her.
“Sir
Adam.” She looked back out over the land. “I dinnae think he will
e’er stop trying to get his hands on Glencullaich.”
“Nay,”
agreed Harcourt. “He willnae. ’Tis good land.” He patted the
wall. “With a good strong keep.
And
that has ye worried?”
“If
your friend is right, then he has already killed David. The only one
left standing between him and this land is Benet, a little boy. My
son. Aye, I am worried.”
“Good.”
He smiled at the way she frowned at him. “Then ye will be keeping a
verra close watch on the lad and all who draw near him. I ken ye do
now, just as any mother does, but ye have always trusted everyone in
this keep, probably everyone in the clan.”
“Aye,
I do.” She sighed. “Did.” She shook her head. “I try to deny
that my husband was murdered with poison yet it answers too many
questions about the strange illness that took his life. I have seen
most illnesses a mon can get and I had ne’er seen one quite like
that. The learned men we brought in to help were uncertain as weel,
although they did their best to hide that. I e’en ken most of the
things that can poison one and what happens but ne’er that. The way
it can be slipped into food or drink by an unseen hand is the most
frightening. How does one fight that?”
“Weel,
some kings have someone taste their food first.”
Annys
smiled. “Benet may nay like that. But it does give me something to
think about. Mayhap his meals should be prepared only by one I
completely trust until the threat to him has passed.”
“And
who would that be?”
“Joan.”
“Of
course.”
Harcourt
was finding it difficult not to touch her, to reach out and stroke
the thick braid of hair hanging down her back, touch her soft cheek,
or even just hold her small hand in his. He wanted her but knew it
could be something that would only add to the troubles she now
carried. The whole keep would know as soon as they became lovers.
Even if that did not make everyone look more closely at Benet, it
could weaken her position as lady of the keep, as the one acting in
the stead of the laird.
“Why
did I hear a bell?” he asked, trying desperately to get his mind
off how sweet she smelled and how badly he wanted to pull her into
his arms.
“Ah,
David fixed that. I have always liked to come out here if I am too
restless to sleep. He wanted me to be comfortable in doing so nay
matter what I was clothed in.” She blushed as she ran a hand down
the side of her robe. “Some nights he would join me and we found it
helped us sort out some problem to stand here looking at the stars
and talking quietly. He wanted no one to interrupt those moments,
either. So the men move away from this small part of the wall when
they hear the bell.”
“Clever.
And have ye been able to sort out the problem that brought ye here
tonight?”
“Aye.
I must accept that someone in this keep helped kill my husband and
may be convinced to try and kill my son.” The moment she said those
words she knew she had finally accepted that chilling truth and
nodded. “I ken it now and so now I will work to keep Benet safe and
find out who betrayed us all.”
She
looked at him standing so close to her that she could feel his
warmth. He awoke something inside her that had been sleeping since he
had walked away a little over five years ago. Annys was not sure what
she should do about that. A part of her insidiously whispered that
she should take what she wanted but the practical side of her
hesitated, mulled over how complicated that would make her life, and
reminded her of how her heart had broken when he had just walked
away. It was just another thing she had to think about.
But
not tonight, she told herself. Not when he was standing so close her
hands itched to reach out and touch him. Not with the night sky
bathing them in a soft welcoming light that had her memories of their
time together rushing to the fore of her mind. None of those things
made a rational, practical decision possible.
“I
had best get inside,” she said even as she started to move away
from him. “It has been a verra long day and it appears there will
be many more to come. Adam will make certain of it. Sleep well, Sir
Harcourt.”
“And
you, m’lady,” he replied and watched her until she went back into
the keep.
Rafflecopter Giveaway (Three Print copies of HIGHLAND GUARD)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you for hosting HIGHLAND GUARD!
ReplyDelete