A Highlander’s Terror (Lairds of Dunkeld Series) (A Medieval Scottish Romance Story) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  A Personal Note From Emilia Ferguson

  Dedication

  About The Author

  A HIGHLANDER’S TERROR

  CHARACTERS LIST

  *

  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

  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 HIGHLAND KNIGHT

  Book Description

  Also By Emilia Ferguson

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  A Highlander’s Terror

  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

  A HIGHLANDER’S TERROR

  CHARACTERS LIST

  *

  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

  *

  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 HIGHLAND KNIGHT

  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

  *

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  *

  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.

  A HIGHLANDER’S TERROR

  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 #8

  Estate name: Lochlann castle

  Mother: Joanna Blackheath

  Father: Dougal Blackheath

  Daughter: Amabel Blackheath

  Estate name: Brondell

  Family name: MacLemand

  Laird: Alexander MacLemand

  Son: Arthur MacLemand

  Son: Bruce MacLemand

  Estate name: Dunkeld Castle

  Family name: MacConnaway

  Laird: Broderick MacConnaway, thane of Dunkeld (grandfather of Amabel)

  Wife: Amabel MacConnaway (grandmother of Amabel)

  Great-Aunt: Alina MacConnaway

  Great-Uncle: Duncan MacConnaway

  Great-Aunt: Chrissie McNeil

  Great-Uncle: Blaine McNeil

  Estate Name: Buccleigh castle

  Family name: Blackheath

  Father: Adair Blackheath, his grace the duke of Buccleigh

  Estate Name: Astmor Castle

  Family name: Astley

  Laird: Lord Callum, his grace the duke of Astley

  Estate Name: Elmarsh

  Family name: Invermore

  Laird: Alex Invermore

  Son: Sir Rufus Invermore

  PROLOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  The walls of the solar seemed to flicker with the leaping light of flame. Amabel, daughter of Joanna, lady of Lochlann, crept closer to the warmth of the hearth as she listened to her father.

  “Now, Amabel,” he said gently. “Remember what I am telling you today.”

  “Yes, Father,” Amabel replied. She was utterly focused on his gaunt, lean face, the cheeks carved with firelight and shadow.

  “You,” he said gently, “are the daughter of two very powerful houses: Buccleigh and Lochlann. Whoever you wed one day will manage both these estates. You must choose wisely, my dear.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  “You will have many people questing for your hand. Only choose who seems worthy. Your inheritance is a treasure, but, above all, your heart is even more so. I would not see you enticed by one who wants only your fortune. Be wise.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  She was staring at him and he must have noticed how grave her expression was, for his face softened.

  “Come now, baby. It's not so bad. Let's plan the ball for your birthday. I plan to get musicians from the village to provide dance music.” He reached forward and ruffled her hair.

  She smiled, though it was a sad smile. “Yes, Father.”

  “Come, dear,” he said as he reached to give her a big hug, wincing slightly as he stood from his place by the fire. “I didn't mean to make you fret. It's your birthday. No sorry faces.”

  “Yes, Father.” She smiled and he chuckled.

  “That's better. Now, I wonder if your mama has finished organizing the servants yet?”

  Amabel chuckled. “I wonder.”

  It was rare for her mother, Lady Joanna, to plan gatherings – she was naturally reclusive and they lived quietly at Lochlann castle. However, it was Amabel's sixteenth birthday and time for her to be introduced to the society at large.

  They want me to meet someone I can one day wed. I can feel it.

  The plans for her introduction to society would not stop with the ball, she knew. Her father had plans to take her to court next time he visited the capital, and fabrics for her new gown were already being tracked down through the local cloth merchants. Amabel knew she should be excited, but instead she was nervous.

  “I'm going to go and find Webster,” her father sighed. Webster was their steward – her father's perpetual task seemed to be checking the accounts.

  “Yes, Father,” Amabel said. “I'll see if Mama's finished in the hall yet.”

  He smiled fondly at her, stroking her long black hair. “You're a good girl, Amabel.”

  Amabel smiled back, swallowing hard. “Thank you, Father.”

  She watched her father walk slowly up the hallway with a worried frown. His limp had worsened this winter – it always did with the cold. An old battle injury, it had never fully healed.

  I know it will worsen one day.

  Amabel shook her head to clear it. As her father walked down the hallway, it seemed to her she saw, superimposed on him, an older, stooped man. She could see the man he would become.

  I hate this!

  She walked down the stairs impatiently to seek out her mother. The sight! Why had she, of all people, had to inherit this perilous talent? It was her mother's gift. Lady Joanna was a seer, like her aunt Alina before her. Amabel did not want it.

  She paused, her own face in the reflective surface of a polished shield catching her eye. A long face with hollow cheeks and a high brow over wide set, striking blue eyes, she could not deny that she had inherited beauty from her parents. That, along with the thick black hair and her compact frame, made her a striking woman. She sighed.

  If I could only stop seeing things before they happened, I would be so happy.

  She felt moody and restless and she did not know why. As she turned to carry on downstairs, she caught sight of her maid, Glenna, in the mirrored surface. In that moment, Glenna's face changed, twisting into a frightened scream. Amabel saw her falling, falling...

  No!

  She closed her eyes and turned to face the woman.

  “Milady?” Glenna looked at her, big soulful eyes worried. “Are you well?”

  Amabel sighed. “Yes, Glenna. I'm well. Have you seen Mama?”

  “She's in the hall, milady,” Glenna said. “Supervising the decorations for tonight. Are you sure there's not aught troubling ye?”

  Amabel shook her head. “No, Glenna. It's well.”

  She was sixteen and she didn't know how to say it. How would she tell Glenna, twenty years old and practical, that she'd foreseen her falling?

  She shook her head, lips pursed, and hurried to find her mother. She found her in the hall, standing on the dais.

  “Up a bit,” she was commenting to the maids as they hung the place with wreaths of bright green leaves. “There!”

  “Mother?” Amabel said gravely.

  Lady Joanna turned. Taller than Amabel, with long red hair and big grave eyes, Joanna was a calm, regal presence. She regarded Amabel as if bringing herself to focus on the present moment.