The Highlander’s Challenge (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

  Heart Of A Highlander

  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

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  EPILOGUE

  Also By Emilia Ferguson

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  The Highlander’s Challenge

  Lairds of Dunkeld Series (A Medieval Scottish Romance Story)

  Emilia Ferguson

  MOUNTAINSKY HOUSE PUBLISHING CO.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  A Personal Note From Emilia Ferguson

  Dedication

  About The Author

  Heart Of A Highlander

  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

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  *

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  *

  EPILOGUE

  *

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  Also By Emilia Ferguson

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  Copyright © 2017 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 rom
ance 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 HIGHLANDER’S CHALLENGE

  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 #1.

  Estate Name: Lochlann Castle

  Family name: Lochlann

  Laird: Brien Lochlann

  Mother: Joanna Lochlann, (deceased)

  Father: Louis du Mas, count of Annecy

  Daughter: Amabel du Mas

  Daughter: Alina du Mas

  Ward: Heath Fraser

  Aunt: Frances Lochlann, (deceased)

  Uncle: Artair Connelly, (deceased)

  Cousin: Chrissie Connelly

  Aunt: Aili Lochlann

  Uncle: Alec Brodway, (deceased)

  Head of household guard: Blaine MacNeil

  Estate Name: Dunkeld Keep

  Family name: MacConnaway

  Laird: Adair MacConnaway

  Son: Broderick MacConnaway

  Son: Duncan MacConnaway

  Estate Name: Athol Castle

  Family name: Mentieth

  Father: Donald Mentieth, his grace the Duke of Athol

  Mother: Colla Lochlann

  Daughter: Jeanne Mentieth

  Estate Name: Bronley Castle

  Family name: MacDonnell

  Father: Ewan MacDonnell (deceased)

  Son: Thomas MacDonnell

  Estate Name: Inverglass

  Family name: Duncraigh

  Father: Eivar Duncraigh

  Mother: Christina Duncraigh

  Son: Alf Duncraigh

  Estate Name: Gormond

  Family name: Blackwell

  Father: Dougal Blackwell

  Mother: Jessica Blackwell (deceased)

  PROLOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  The darkness pressed close.

  Eerie and damp, with the scent of cobwebs and dusty rooms, the darkness enveloped her. It felt like mist, but more insidious – it listened, as a predator does, lurking in forested lands. Alina, trapped on the edges of that dark, wanted to scream. She could not though. She also could not shut her eyes. She wished she could: she did not want to see what happened as the darkness slowly engulfed them. First herself, then Amabel, then Chrissie, bright hair turned to ash. Broderick went next, then a little girl she did not know, and then Aili – even she was not spared. Then Duncan as well. Her beloved.

  Alina did scream then. The sound that came from her was high and thin, like an animal, keening its pain. As she screamed, the picture shattered.

  She was sitting up in bed, in her own bedchamber.

  She leaned forward to hug her knees, heart thudding, feeling dizzy with relief. Sweat poured off her. The fire had burned down in the grate, leaving the room in chalk gray and charcoal black. Suddenly, a lamp flame shone in the room.

  “My lady?”

  Blaire, her maid, appeared at her bedside. She was holding a lamp. Wearing a long cotton night shift, eyes red from sleep, she looked wild with fear, dark curls disarrayed beneath a nightcap.

  “Blaire,” Alina said gently, though she still shook with her own remembered terror. “Did I wake you?”

  “I heard a noise, milady,” Blaire shuddered. “It did nae sound as if it came from this world. A scream of horror such as I never did hear.” She shivered again.

  Alina hung her head, her curtain of black hair swinging in the reddish firelight. “I am sorry, Blaire. It was me. I screamed. I was dreaming.”

  “Oh, mercy!” Blaire smiled with sudden relief, her soft face lighting up. “My lady. I'm right glad ye were nae harmed. But it must have been a terrible dream.”

  Alina looked at her hands, the pale skin shining in the gloom. “I cannot say,” she said softly.

  “Oh, of course, milady,” Blaire agreed swiftly. “Can I get ye something? A drink tae help ye sleep?”

  “No, thank you, Blaire. I will be well. You can leave me to try and sleep,” she said. She laughed a little shakily at the unlikelihood of her returning to sleep. However, Alina never used sleeping drafts. They filled the mind with hectic visions – especially the drafts made with essence of poppy. One thing everyone knew about Alina's dreams, was that they were not hectic visions.

  Alina's dreams were correct.

  That was what terrified her.

  Alina waited until she heard Blaire draw the curtain that divided her sleeping place from Alina's own, and then she lay back on the comfortable pillows and tried to think.

  What was the meaning of that?

  She sighed. The dream had been terrifying. It had filled her with a fear such as she had only felt once or twice in her life before. The most recent time was before Duncan, her beloved, had rescued her. She shuddered when she thought of her capture by Thomas MacDonnell. She had nightmares for months afterward. However, this was not one of those dreams. This was different.

  This was a true dream. A premonition.

  “But what did it mean?” Alina asked herself as she lay in the friendly dark of her own bedchamber. It was the one she had shared with Amabel, her sister, before the latter had wed Broderick and moved away. The room still held the echoes of their laughter, the warm, loving presence of her sister. It was comforting. Alina sighed. Calmer now, she tried to recall what her mentor, Aunt Aili, had taught her about her dreaming gift. “What do the symbols mean to you, lass? It is your dream, so the meanings also must be yours.”

  Darkness. Darkness meant danger to Alina. An unrecognizable darkness was an unrecognizable danger, lurking in the shadows, waiting to devour them.

  “Oh!” she covered her mouth in horror. She had just remembered the earlier part of the dream. The darkness had come when Duncan, her beloved, had asked Uncle Brien for her hand in marriage.

  He must not ask him. If he asks, we will all face our own death.

  She shivered. If they wished to wed, she needed Uncle's permission. That could only be gotten by Duncan asking him.

  But he cannot ask. He must not ask. To do so was to court death.

  What will I do? Alina closed her black eyes, too sad for tears. If Duncan could not ask him, then she could never wed him, her heart's desire. However, there seemed no other way.

  CHAPTER ONE

  A QUESTION AND AN ANSWER

  A QUESTION AND AN ANSWER

  “No! Do not go to him. He will not listen.”

  The words broke the peace of the solar, cutting through the stillness of the summer sunlight and the drowsy, fire-lit peace of the place.

  Duncan sighed. He sat up and reached a hand across to Alina's long, pale fingers where she sat beside him on the settee. He had just told Alina he intended to ask her uncle for permission to wed her. Knowing Alina as he did, Duncan had known not to make any guesses as to her reaction. Even so, he had not thought her reaction would be something so vehement.

  “Do not worry, dear,” he said gently. “It is well. He will listen. I swear it.” His strong, handsome face was worried, his tawny eyes creased under a frown. “I will ensure it.”

  Alina squeezed his hand. “I trust you, dear. I believe you would try your best to make him listen. But I do not trust Uncle Brien. Not at all.” She shook her head, making her long, blue-black hair swing. Her motion sent rivers of firelight dancing along the strands.

  Duncan drew a dee
p breath. Sitting so close to Alina, he found it hard to control himself. All he wanted to do was lean across and plant a kiss on those plump, dark red lips. He ached to hold her close to him, feeling her slender body against his own. He wanted to marry her, and soon. He had loved her for half a year, since shortly after they met. It had to be soon. He sometimes felt that if he had to wait a minute longer, he would die of longing.