[The Highland Wolf 01] • The Black Wolf's Captive

War has brought them together...

Free spirited Ailsa MacLeod rebels against the prospect of an arranged marriage. In the constantly shifting world of clan conflicts she knows it will bring an important alliance for her clan but she strives to be mistress of her own destiny. A brutal clan war brings upheaval and uncertainty into her world and Ailsa finds herself humiliated and at the mercy of wild and handsome rival clansman Duncan Campbell, who would bend her to his will and claim her for his own. Ailsa must pretend to submit to him as she fights to win her freedom. But can her growing attraction to him be conquered and does danger still lurk where she least expects it.

Duncan Campbell is a fierce, forbidding man with a dark and troubled past. A consummate survivor he moves in a world of intrigue and violence and when the Highlands explode into armed conflict he suddenly finds himself in possession of the spoils of war, defiant beauty Ailsa MacLeod, who utterly hates him. Duncan must do battle once more against the hunger that starts to grow in him. Does he want to protect her or possess her? Either way she is his to do with as he pleases though a bitter upbringing and the brutality of the life he is forced to lead have long since closed his heart to the fairer sex. But as he forces her into submission he begins to realise that love is something earned not taken and if he is to hold this prize he must fight one last battle against enemies who would tear down everything he holds dear.

Extract:

For a minute Ailsa let the disloyal thoughts in. His mouth on hers, hungry and insistent, strong hands holding her against a hard body, the smell and taste of him and the longing to feel that way again. The shame of it turned her face to fire. He surely thought her nothing more than a foolish girl, easy to take advantage of with too much whisky in her belly, a salve for his lust and instantly forgotten. She was sure Duncan Campbell had never given her a second thought. And now he was a sworn enemy of her clan so all thoughts of him must be pushed aside for her own sake. She must be true to her birthright and never ever tell anyone what had happened that night on the battlements.

Suddenly the door to her chamber crashed open and she was confronted with a maidservant, white faced and breathless. ‘Lady we are lost,’ she shouted in panic. ‘The battle is done and we were defeated. The Campbells slaughtered them all.’

Ailsa grabbed her arm to steady her. ‘What of my brother?’

‘There’s no news of him lady, only that there was a massacre.’

Ailsa’s legs weakened and she slumped onto the bed. Bile rose in her throat at the shock of it. No one had expected this, they were sure of their victory and now Robert’s talk of glory had turned to ashes. Was he lying bloody and cleaved in a ditch somewhere? Had she brought this doom down upon them with her sinful thoughts?

‘Lady all the servants are fleeing and we must go too’.

‘Why?’

‘Duncan Campbell and his men are on their way here to claim Cailleach and everything in it’.