Cirrus@Austlit

'Scottish Highlands

'1244

'A great sickness is striking down the Highland folk of Caithness Castle. They are dying from ergot poisoning, from eating infected crops. But this is the year 1244, and almost no one has heard of this condition, a disease later called St. Anthony’s Fire.

'Desperate to save his clan, Laird Gus turns to a soothsayer for answers. The mystic tells him to hunt down and capture a special Sassenach woman with God-given healing gifts.

'Laird Gus tracks down Lady Sybilla and kidnaps her. Only trouble is, she keeps insisting that she has no magical abilities, nor healing skills of any sort. She’s not even clever with herbs. He has captured the wrong lass.

'English Lady Sybilla might not have the ability to break curses and cure a castle of folk, but she is clever. And cleverness turns out to be exactly what he needs.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Scottish Highlands

'1245

'English Juliette is sent to the Scottish Highlands on a charity visit, a mission that’s to last two hundred days. Her job is to pull a valuable warlord out of his black hole. The king wants Laird Tam out of the doldrums and back doing what he does best: killing in the name of Scotland. Juliette reluctantly agrees to the king’s task, because she has no choice.

'Lady Juliette is sweet, sassy, and determined, but also a little spoilt. She knows she’ll cope with the bleak north, the boredom and the barbarous Scotsmen, but when these two hundred days are done, she’s bolting back to England as quickly as her silk slippers will take her.

'Juliette underestimates the Scottish Highlands. She greatly underestimates Laird Tam. And there’s something else she doesn’t realise: the Highlands are never boring ...

“We’re going into the sea, Juliette.”
“No, no, no . . .”
“Aye, we are. You’re a strong Sassenach, remember that. You’ll survive this shipwreck.”
“No. I won’t . . .”
“I’ll find you, my darling, I’ll always find you . . .”
Then the wave hits.

'Now Lady Juliette must survive the sea, the Irish outlaws, runaway nuns, and the ancient Caledonian Forest. Not to mention her growing attraction to Laird Tam ...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.