Brock spent three days feeding Joanna chicken broth and letting her drink water that had been boiled under Duncan's supervision. The cook was none too pleased, but she would adjust to his orders until he could figure out who was trying to harm his wife. There was a chance that Mrs. Tate was involved too, or the maid. What was her name? Maura? Yes, that was it. He'd rarely seen the girl; she was quiet and kept to herself. Once he discovered who was responsible, as the local magistrate, he would deal with the matter himself.On the fourth day, he lay sleeping fitfully next to her and woke to the feel of her kissing his forehead. He blinked, wondering if he could believe what he was seeing. Joanna was sitting up, her face no longer deathly pale and her eyes neither cloudy nor overbright."Lass?" The word came out hoarse on his tongue since he'd barely spoken in days except for brief words with Duncan."I feel better, so much better." She brushed his hair back from his eyes, and his thr

"Stop this at once!" Joanna shouted with a deep, furious voice. Her mother would've been proud of the way the towering Scots all stopped and stared at her."Well now, there's the lassie! Saved me the trouble of going in there after you." Ewan laughed, the sound cold and cutting. A flicker of apprehension coursed through her as she stared him down. "Get her."Two men took a step forward. Joanna had to work fast. "I have no intention of running, so you can stay right where you are."The men stopped and looked at Ewan, uncertain. Ewan sized Joanna up and nodded for the men to step back. "You have courage, lass. I'll give you that.""And you have a code of honor, do you not?"Ewan glanced at his men before he met her gaze. "Aye. What of it?""I should like to challenge that honor."Ewan threw his head back and laughed. "You?""Yes, me." Joanna had not been raised to be a cowering fool, no matter how much she quaked with fear on the inside."So what's it to be?" Ewan said with a sa

The moment Joanna realized Brock would not be able to get out, she screamed his name. Duncan found her trying to claw her way back up the stone walls. The heat of the blaze was fierce, and the castle seemed to swell with the heat beneath her hands, but it didn't stop her. Her husband was going to die if she couldn't find a way to save him."My lady! Be careful!" Duncan shouted. Pieces of wood and stone fell from the battlements, landing with heavy thuds on the grass around her."Duncan! Thank God! Brock is trapped up there. We must find a way to save him!""How? We canna get back inside." Duncan stared up at the cloud of smoke billowing out from the window above them, his face ashen. Joanna watched the flames lick along the stones in terror. She'd never thought stones could burn, but the amount of timber inside the castle was feeding the fire.If only they hadn't run out of rope. If only he'd been able to get out the window and jump. But it was too high. If only A sudden burst of i

BOOK TEN: The Earl of KentLondon, December 1816Fifteen-year-old Ella Humphrey was caught in a dream as she leaned over the wooden banister overlooking the entryway to her home. Two young men had come in through the door, shaking snow off their Hessian boots and removing their hats as they talked jovially. One was her older brother Graham, and the otherthe other was a man she'd never seen before. Tall, dark haired, with a deep rich laugh that sent butterflies fluttering inside her stomach."It's rather tragic, don't you think?"Ella jolted and turned to find her mother, Violet, the Dowager Countess of Lonsdale, behind her. She looked sad as she too looked down at the pair of young men."What's tragic?" asked Ella."Graham's friend, Lord Kent. His parents both died of typhus a month ago I heard, while visiting relatives in Scotland. He's only twenty-three, far too young to be an orphan." Violet stroked Ella's blonde hair as Ella gazed down at the handsome man in the entrance hall

Ella was tired of being treated as though she were a fragile flower. Yes, she had been a weak child, always catching ill, but she hadn't been ill in years."Mother, I really wish to go to Lady Amelia's ball. She said that many handsome young men have been invited." She didn't add that she wasn't interested in any of them, but her mother might believe that and be more inclined to let her go.Her mother paused in her reading of the Morning Post and sighed thoughtfully. "Dancing too much tires you out, my dear. I don't wish to put you at risk.""I'm not made of spun glass. One dance will not shatter me.""I distinctly remember that you had a coughing fit at the last one, only a month ago."Ella rolled her eyes. "That wasn't my fault. Lady Casterly smothered her entire body in some overripe eau de cologne. More than one person succumbed to a coughing fit when they found themselves within breathing distance of her. Lord Evanston even knocked over a tray of ratafia when he started cough