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The Lord’s Highland Temptation
Diane Gaston
A soldier burdened by guilt… …to the future Earl of Foxgrove? Captain Lucas Johns-Ives is injured in the same battle that killed his brother. Haunted by loss, Lucas’s life is saved by Mairi Wallace. In this Highland idyll, masquerading as her family’s butler, Lucas can avoid the responsibilities of becoming the new Earl. He’s tempted by Mairi’s sweetness – but to win her hand, he must face his demons and claim his noble birth right…
A soldier burdened by guilt...
...to the future Earl of Foxgrove?
Captain Lucas Johns-Ives is injured in the same battle that killed his brother. Haunted by loss, Lucas is saved by Mairi Wallace. In this Highland idyll, masquerading as her family’s butler, Lucas can avoid the responsibilities of becoming the new earl. He’s tempted by Mairi’s sweetness—but to win her hand, he must face his demons and claim his noble birthright...
DIANE GASTON’s dream job was always to write romance novels. One day she dared to pursue that dream, and has never looked back. Her books have won romance’s highest honours: the RITA® Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion, Golden Quill and Golden Heart®. She lives in Virginia, USA, with her husband and three very ordinary house cats. Diane loves to hear from readers and friends. Visit her website at: dianegaston.com (http://www.dianegaston.com).
Also by Diane Gaston (#u47110185-aebc-5340-86ee-3415564e0218)
A Pregnant Courtesan for the Rake
The Scandalous Summerfields miniseries
Bound by Duty
Bound by One Scandalous Night
Bound by a Scandalous Secret
Bound by Their Secret Passion
The Governess Swap miniseries
A Lady Becomes a Governess
Shipwrecked with the Captain
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
The Lord’s Highland Temptation
Diane Gaston
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08931-9
THE LORD’S HIGHLAND TEMPTATION
© 2019 Diane Perkins
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Note to Readers (#u47110185-aebc-5340-86ee-3415564e0218)
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To Henriette and Liz,
my wonderful friends and former coworkers.
Contents
Cover (#uec8d1190-cf69-5431-abd3-47d5fe379e87)
Back Cover Text (#ue803b89a-67ed-5dfa-a4a7-6b254ad9aa5a)
About the Author (#u7841e4e4-6f96-5eb6-894b-896c0b9eea65)
Booklist (#u65e704ce-78c1-5b85-9ad4-e1ceccc1b8fe)
Title Page (#uf87b39ff-2a2d-5f27-90f5-c15f4b3ac759)
Copyright (#u3529efa7-750c-50c6-8e8b-2329d207e187)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#u10d1ef3d-0714-57b3-9aa4-83b9a36830a4)
Chapter One (#u3398a4e1-55f7-525c-890a-e28af6f89055)
Chapter Two (#uf2fffdce-f74a-579e-afc0-f2a3beaa29f2)
Chapter Three (#u100f8326-e205-527c-a5dd-c89733f2fcb1)
Chapter Four (#u4ce999e2-f8eb-5410-8445-91fc99885e3b)
Chapter Five (#u1f1f870e-4305-57e5-85f3-e427df29906e)
Chapter Six (#u67be36b5-332f-516e-b1d7-e0701b74b1d1)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u47110185-aebc-5340-86ee-3415564e0218)
Scotland—September 1816
The thundering of a thousand horses’ hooves, the roar of the charge, the screams of the injured pounded across Lucas Johns-Ives’s brain. He slashed at the French soldiers, so many caught off guard by the British cavalry, easy prey for their sabres. The charge had begun in glory, but now it was slaughter—blood everywhere, men crying out in agony, horses falling.
Dimly, the sound of a bugle reached Lucas’s ears. Ta-ta-ta. Ta-ta-ta. Over and over. The signal to retreat. They’d ridden far enough. Done enough. Killed enough. Time to retreat.
Where was Bradleigh?
Lucas searched for his brother and spied him still waving his sword, his eyes bulging, a maniacal grimace on his face. He’d been so angry at Bradleigh, angry enough to refuse to ride next to him. Let his brother fight on his own for once.
But now Lucas shouted in a voice thick with panic, ‘Bradleigh! Bradleigh! Retreat! We’ve ridden too far. Bradleigh!’
From the corner of his eye, Lucas saw a thousand French cavalry on fresh horses galloping closer, swords drawn.
His brother took no heed.
‘Bradleigh! Bradleigh!’
Bradleigh impaled a blue-coated French soldier through the neck, pulled back his sword, dripping with the man’s blood. He laughed like a madman.
Lucas spurred his horse to catch up to him. He’d pull his brother out of danger, just as he’d promised their father. Drag him back to the Allied lines. He’d save Bradleigh from himself.
He was almost there, almost at his brother’s side, but then suddenly a French cuirassier on a huge black horse roared between them. Lucas pulled on his horse’s reins to avoid crashing into the man and beast. The cuirassier charged to his brother, raised his sword and ran it through his brother’s chest.
‘No!’ Lucas cried as his brother’s blood spurted and his body fell from his horse. ‘No!’
* * *
‘I love the stone circle.’ The melodic voice of a young girl broke into Lucas’s reverie, melting away the sounds and sights of the battle.
The girlish voice laughed. ‘Remember how we played here?’
Lucas shook his head. It could not be. This was Belgium, was it not? Where was the battle? Where was his brother?
Suddenly the air smelled of wet grass and a breeze cooled his burning skin. He’d been walking, he remembered. He’d felt light-headed and queasy—nothing another bottle of fine Scottish whisky couldn’t cure. Had the drink caused the dream? Was this a dream? If so, which was the dream: the battle or the melodic voice?
‘That was when we were mere children,’ another voice answered. A boy’s voice this time. ‘Or at least when I was a child. You still are one.’
‘I am not,’ the girl protested. ‘Fourteen is not a child.’
‘Ha!’ the boy responded. ‘Wait until you are sixteen. Then you will know fourteen is a child.’
The girl harrumphed. ‘Oh, yes. You are so grown up.’ Her voice changed. ‘Niven, look! There is a man in the circle.’
‘Where?’ he answered.
‘There. On the ground beneath one of the larger stones.’
Lucas heard them move closer.
‘Who is it?’ the boy asked.
