The Laird's Future Bride

The MacLeod Clan

Book One

by Hazel Gower

© Copyright January 2014 JK Publishing, Inc.

ISBN#9781311894069

All cover art and logo © Copyright January 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Edited by Kimberly Morgan

Artwork by Jess Buffett

Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

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Email: [email protected]

To my amazing family, thank you for encouraging me to follow my dreams. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful husband and awesome children. To my best friend, Jess Buffett, I love you, thanks for putting up with me.

A huge thank you to my editor, Kimberly Morgan, for helping this book shine. Lastly, thank you to JK Publishing for taking on my first time travel romance.

Dedication

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

Books by Hazel Gower

JK Publishing Inc
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Excerpt from the Tyrant's Keep

The seer ran. She’d watched her mother burn before her and had been told she was next, but she’d escaped. The seer kenned she needed to find a safe haven, a place where she would be protected. She’d heard through a healer a while ago that gifted people were moving to the MacLeods, a clan who protected everyone no matter what ye were. The seer decided that was where she would go. She wanted to be safe.

Once she decided, the universe guided her where she needed to go. It took her close to a sennight to get to the MacLeods and as soon as she reached their borders, a feeling of peace and safety washed over her. She took an easier pace the rest of the way to the keep to ask the laird’s permission to live amongst his clan. When she arrived a day later, she was welcomed. Laird Robert and Lady Magan were kind enough to give her a position at the castle.

As the seer was leaving, two young lads ran to the laird and lady. “Mother, Da,” they said in unison. It was then that she had a vision. She saw the two boys growing up, sharing everything. The younger helped the older to lead, and they trusted each other with a fierce loyalty. Then she saw them as grown men and two paths flashed before her. One where the men never married and remained the closest of brothers, the MacLeods feuding with all their neighbors and many dying. A scary path because neither married, and the MacLeod line soon died out, making the lands a safe haven no more to gifted people.

The second path was promising, but came with a downfall. A beautiful girl, with long raven hair and big brown eyes being brought through time by magic, Lady Magan’s magic. The girl would bring peace and have a magic of her own. She would also be a soul mate to one child, but the other child would also fall in love with the girl, and the two brothers would be torn apart.

The seer came out of the vision and looked around the room. She kenned that half the people were gifted, a lot of people to put in peril. The seer looked at the boys, one with bright red hair like his father, the other blond like his mother. They each had magic. The seer couldn’t let the first path come to pass. She would help the second path come true, but she would use her knowledge to make sure the rift between the brothers didn’t become permanent.

The seer looked to Lady Magan and decided to befriend her, to help the second path come true. The MacLeods wouldn’t die out. The seer would make sure they would be around to protect the gifted for years to come.

Her path decided, she walked out of the keep and to the cottage they told her was vacant. The seer had a plan. A purpose.

“I wonder if I kill my best friend but explain everything that led to me doing the deed, would that get me off?” Holly muttered as the rain pelted down on her. She was an easygoing person, but the nonstop rain on her holiday was getting her down. Holly moved the satchel bag Jane had convinced her to get to go with the costumes she’d bought for the weekend across her chest. She gathered up the ridiculous 1500s period dress with one hand to stop it from getting covered in mud. Gripping the small weekend suitcase with her other hand, she walked as fast as she could to the castle.

She looked around the lush green Scottish countryside as she walked to the massive stone castle. The stunning castle looked like it came out of a fairytale with its lush gardens and tall stone wall surrounding it. The castle’s back was to the water of the Isle of Skye. It was a perfect picture.

Since Holly had gotten out of the taxi, the rain had intensified to a downpour. She wished Jane hadn’t gotten sick. The weekend costume party was more her thing than Holly’s. Lightning flashed across the water in the distance, and Holly’s heart skipped a beat.

“Let’s go to Scotland before we start university,” Jane had said. “It will be fun to go there for Valentine’s Day. We could meet a sexy Scottish rogue.”

Holly loved her best friend. Jane had been there for her over the last year, helping her manage after the deaths of her parents. Holly was an only child, and had been really close with her parents. They had called her their miracle baby. Holly’s mother had been a year off forty when she’d had her, and her father was in his fifties. They had been the best parents anyone could ask for. Holly did everything with them, so much so that she never really had any rebellious teen years. They laughed when Jane got her into trouble with one of her ideas, like this one.

“I swear, this will be the last time I listen to Jane. She gets sick, and I have to go to this silly party by myself. I told her we should have gone to a hot place like Vanuatu or Bali, but no. Jane always has to be different,” Holly grumbled to the sky, not expecting it to answer with more lightning. Holly would admit, though, that Jane’s spontaneous craziness was the thing that kept them best friends. Holly always wished she could be more like her friend.

Holly’s shoes squelched in the mud as she walked up the pathway to the castle. “Stupid cab. How can they live in this godforsaken country and still have cars that get stuck in the mud?” Holly smiled grimly as the lightning strike hit the water as if in agreement. Holly was sick of the rain. Since she and Jane had arrived in Scotland, it seemed it had done nothing but rain. On a positive note, at least the wheels of her small suitcase weren’t getting stuck in the mud.