The Highland Secret Agent Read online

  The Highland Secret Agent

  Lairds of Dunkeld Series (A Medieval Scottish Romance Story)

  Emilia Ferguson

  MOUNTAINSKY HOUSE PUBLISHING CO.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  A Personal Note From Emilia Ferguson

  Dedication

  About The Author

  The Highland Secret Agent

  CHARACTERS LIST

  *

  PROLOGUE

  *

  CHAPTER ONE

  *

  CHAPTER TWO

  *

  CHAPTER THREE

  *

  CHAPTER FOUR

  *

  CHAPTER FIVE

  *

  CHAPTER SIX

  *

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  *

  CHAPTER EIGHT

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  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

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  *

  EPILOGUE

  *

  A SURPRISE FOR YOU

  A BONUS NOVELLA

  The Highlander’s Conflict

  Book Description

  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

  *

  EPILOGUE

  *

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  Also By Emilia Ferguson

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  Copyright © 2017 & 2018 by EMILIA FERGUSON & MOUNTAINSKY HOUSE PUBLISHING CO.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author/publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover designed by Ms Melody Simmons. Author has the copyrights to this cover.

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  A PERSONAL NOTE

  FROM EMILIA FERGUSON

  To My Dearest Lovely Readers,

  There is something picturesque and dramatic about the Scottish Highlands. Not only the landscape, which is mysterious, with its own special wildness and drama. It is the people themselves.

  Scottish people are the original untamed spirits: proud, wild, forthright, in touch with their inner selves. The Medieval period in Scotland is a fascinating one for contrasts: half the country was steeped in Medieval culture - knights, ladies, housecarls and maids - and the other half was a maelstrom of wild clans people; fighting, living and loving straight from the heart.

  If the two halves - the wild and the courtly - meet up, what will happen? And how will these proud women and untamed men react when brought together by social expectations, requirements and ambitions?

  Read on to find out the answers!

  Thank you very much for your strong support to my writing journey!

  With Hugs, Kisses and Love…

  DEDICATION

  Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be man's last romance.

  Oscar Wilde

  This Story Is Specially Dedicated To You, My Dearest Reader!

  It is with gratefulness and gratitude that I am writing to you this personal dedication.

  Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to share with you my creative side.

  I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much I have enjoyed writing it!

  It is with such great support from you that we authors continue to write, presenting you with great stories.

  Have you checked out my other western historical romance books series?

  Click the link below to get started

  *** AMAZON USA ***

  Do you like what you have read?

  I want to hear from you!

  Please do get in touch with me:

  facebook.com/EmiliaFergusonBooks

  [email protected]

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Emilia Ferguson is the pen name of an author who writes historical romance with her husband. Her hometown is California, but currently she is living in hot tropical Singapore where she enjoys hot summer the whole year round.

  When she is not writing her Medieval Historical Scottish Romance pieces, she enjoys taking long walks with her husband and kids at the nearby beaches.

  It was these long walks where she got inspirations and ideas for her stories. She credits her wonderfully supportive husband John, her great cover designer Ms Melody Simmons and her advance review reviewers for helping her to fine-tune her writing skills and allowing her creativity to explode.

  THE HIGHLAND SECRET AGENT

  A MEDIEVAL SCOTTISH ROMANCE STORY

  by

  EMILIA FERGUSON

  and

  MountainSky House Publishing Co.

  CHARACTERS LIST

  CHARACTERS LIST

  The following are a list of characters featured in this book #7

  Estate Name: Lochlann Castle

  Family name: Lochlann

  Laird: Dougal Blackheath his grace duke of Buccleigh

  Wife: Joanna MacConnaway

  Daughter: Arabella Blackheath

  Estate Name: Dunkeld

  Family name: MacConnaway

  Laird: Broderick MacConnaway thane of Dunkeld
/>   Wife: Amabel MacConnaway

  Son: Brodgar MacConnaway

  Daughter: Amice MacConnaway

  Aunt: Alina MacConnaway

  Uncle: Duncan MacConnaway

  Cousin: Leona MacConnaway

  Aunt: Chrissie McNeil

  Uncle: Blaine McNeil

  Cousin: Conn McNeil

  Cousin: Alf McNeil

  Estate Name: Tayburne

  Family name: McTae

  Father: Alisdair McTae

  Son: Hal McTae

  Estate Name: Edgewood Fort

  Family name: Quinn

  Father: Morris Quinn

  Son: Henry Quinn

  Estate Name: Cullvers Hill

  Family name: Cullver

  Father: Alexander, his grace the duke of Cullver

  Son: Adair Cullver

  Estate Name: Elmsmoor

  Family name: MacConnaway

  Laird: Brodgar MacConnaway

  Wife: Henriette “Ettie” MacConnaway

  Estate Name: Bronley Castle

  Family name: McNeil

  Laird: Alf McNeil

  Wife: Ambeal McNeil

  PROLOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  The delicious smell of baking, spiced, moist, and rich, wafted up to Amice's nose. She felt her mouth water and reached out a hand, surreptitiously, to take another cake.

  Aunt Alina grinned from across the table. “I saw that, Miss Amice.”

  Amice chuckled. Her aunt didn't mean to tell her no. Beside her, Amice's mother glanced at Alina, brow raised.

  “Alina MacConnoway – you might not interrupt my tale.” She was grinning though, and Amice, eight years old and surprisingly perceptive, knew she meant no harm.

  “I might not,” Alina agreed tranquilly. “But I did.”

  They both laughed.

  “Now, where was I?” Lady Amabel asked. Amice's mother, the lady was vital and red-haired, like Amice, but with a chiseled face and green eyes. She looked around the table.

  “You were at the bit where the giant tries to stop the prince. The one who's going to marry the princess,” Brodgar, Amice's brother, supplied helpfully.

  “Oh. Yes. That's right,” Amabel answered. “Now, this giant was not the smartest fellow you might meet, and when he tried to stop Prince Cameron, what he forgot was...”

  Amice let the words wash over her, carrying their images: The handsome prince, the angry giant, the beautiful lady. She closed her eyes, imagining the hero. In her thoughts he looked like Hal McTae, the son of her father's ally. Hal was three years her senior, tall and chestnut-haired with a striking face. Amice thought he was the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen.

  Hal is my handsome prince.

  She looked up to see Alina's eyes on her across the table, and looked quickly down. Her aunt's expression made Amice feel nervous. She wasn't watching any of the other children, not even her own daughter, the fair-haired and lovely Leona. She was looking straight at Amice, who shivered.

  Is she vexed? What did I do? She looked back up at Alina, who still watched her. Her eyes were unfocused now, and Amice bit her lip. Auntie Alina is a seer. Maybe she's seeing something.

  Amice didn't have much of an idea of what that meant. Her big sister Joanna had explained it once: Auntie Alina could see the future, or some of it.

  “All the time?” Amice had asked, confused.

  “Sometimes,” Joanna had explained. “If it is given to her to see it. It comes briefly and it's impossible to tell when it will strike, or whose future you will see.”

  Since Joanna was also a seer, Amice believed her. Now, her mother shifted a little, reaching for her drink, bringing her thoughts back to the present.

  “And so,” her mother said, swallowing a sip, “after all his trials and challenges, the prince wed the lovely Princess Pearl, and they were happy until the end of their days.”

  Leona sighed. It was a romantic story and her violet eyes shone at the thought. Amice felt impatient with herself. She'd gone and missed the best part!

  “Tell another one?” she asked hopefully.

  Amabel laughed. “Tomorrow, sweet one. It's almost time for bed.”

  Protests went round the table, and Amabel chuckled. “We'll tell more tales again tomorrow. I promise. Now, it's late. We have to go to bed.”

  Alina shepherded the children out, heading out of the warm turret room and to the bedchambers. Amice, Brodgar, Conn, Leona, and little Alf. Joanna was somewhere else – at sixteen, she was too old to sit with the children after dinner.

  As Amice thought of Joanna, she glanced up at Alina. She remembered the strange look her aunt had given her.

  “What is it, Amice?” Alina asked as she bent to lower Alf onto his bed. “You look worried.”

  “Were you...were you seeing, back then?” Amice wanted to know.

  Alina sighed. “Yes, child. I was. I saw something in your future.” she straightened up tiredly.

  “In my future?” Amice felt a mix of pleasure and alarm. “What, aunt? What will happen?”

  Alina sighed. “I don't know. It was not clear. I should say nothing now. In a few years, perhaps, when you're older...”

  “I'm eight now,” Amice protested hotly. “I'm growing up. You can tell me.”

  Alina chuckled. “Very well. Just wait a moment. Conn!”

  “Yes, auntie?”

  “Come and keep your brother company. The rest of you, to your beds! And not a sound.”

  Alina turned to her when they'd gone.

  “I foresaw something unusual, my child,” Alina said, turning back to her. Her smooth brow furrowed in a frown. “There was sea, sky, and a stranger. I feel your destiny might take you far from home. And toward someone...someone other.”

  “Other?” Amice had big eyes and they grew even bigger at the wording.

  Alina shook her head impatiently. “There's something different about him. He's...I can't see what it is,” she sighed. “All I can say is that he will be different to anything you would expect.”

  “Oh.” Amice frowned. It was a strange prophecy. “What does he look like?” she asked, intrigued.

  Alina laughed. “That it is not revealed to me to see, my dear. All I can say is that he is handsome and you will love him with all your heart. Now. To bed.”

  Amice wanted to ask more, but she knew her aunt's matter-of-fact ways and knew that was all she was going to get out of her.

  As she lay in her bed that night, drifting off to sleep, she found her mind full of sea, sky, and the strange, somehow-unusual man she would one day marry.

  CHAPTER ONE

  ARRIVAL AT THE FORTRESS

  ARRIVAL AT THE FORTRESS

  Amice looked up from her tapestry, hearing urgent footsteps in the hallway. She laid her embroidery aside and reached up to adjust her hair.

  I hope that's Brodgar. He should be back today.

  She heard her mother's delighted voice.

  “My son!”

  Her own face split with a wide grin. It was Brodgar, and Henriette! They were back. She ran to the door of the solar, peering out into the hallway.