Strachan by Tessa Murran

When your rescuer becomes your jailor…

Peyton Strachan wants a simple life – to fight for his clan, protect its people and make enough of a living to offer marriage to a lass who has caught his eye. But when the laird of Clan Strachan is killed, Peyton has to take his place to ensure the survival of the Strachans and not everyone is happy about it. His clansmen think him an upstart, and rivals circle like crows over carrion.

Soon, Peyton finds that his hold on Clan Strachan is slipping, and the lass he wants may not want him. Living on a knife edge, Peyton rides out one day and encounters a lass in danger. She may be the most alluring woman he has ever met, but she is also spoiled, selfish and maddeningly defiant. And he can’t cut her loose because she knows something that could send him to the gallows, bringing Clan Strachan down with him.

Cecily MacCreadie has a secret – a handsome, dark-haired secret she has been meeting out on the moors unbeknownst to her father, who is arranging her marriage to an old lecher. When her plan to elope comes to a bloody and shocking end, Cecily ends up in the hands of a rough brute, Peyton Strachan. And he is no chivalrous rescuer. Instead, he imprisons her at his hideous stronghold.

The last thing Peyton needs is Cecily MacCreadie, whose beauty is only eclipsed by her ability to get his blood up at every turn. How can he chart an honourable course in the face of raging desire, unseen enemies and insurmountable odds, and will he turn to his dark side to get what he wants? As the West March clans bicker and King James’ ambition sends a shadow across the Scottish Borders, an evil eye fixes on Peyton, bent on bloody revenge.

Prepare to be carried off and imprisoned at the mercy of a rough, wild-eyed Highlander whose rampant masculinity becomes impossible to resist in this forced marriage Scottish romance.