Highlander's Sinful Desire
A Historical Scottish Romance Novel
Maddie MacKenna
Contents
A Gift from the Highlands
Scottish Brogue Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Extended Epilogue
Highlander’s Hidden Destiny
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Also by Maddie MacKenna
About the Author
A Gift from the Highlands
Thank you very much for purchasing my book. It really means a lot to me, because this is the best way to show me your love and support!
As a way to show you my gratitude, I have written a full length novel for you, called Highlander’s Untamed Bride. It’s only available to people who have downloaded one of my books and you can get your free copy by tapping the image below or this link here.
Once again, I can’t thank you enough for your support!
Maddie MacKenna
Scottish Brogue Glossary
Here is a very useful glossary my good friend and fellow author Lydia Kendall sent to me, that will help you better understand the Scottish Brogue used:
aboot - about
ach - oh
afore - before
an' - and
anythin - anything
a'side - beside
askin' - asking
a'tween - between
auld - old
aye - yes
bampot - a jerk
bare bannock- a type of biscuit
bearin' - bearing
beddin' - bedding or sleeping with
bellend - a vulgar slang word
blethering - blabbing
blootered - drunk
bonnie - beautiful or pretty
bonniest - prettiest
cannae - cannot
chargin' - charging
cheesin' - happy
clocked - noticed
c'mon- come on
couldn'ae - couldn't
coupla - couple of
crivens - hell
cuddie - idiot
dae - do
dinin' - dining
dinnae - didn't or don't
disnae - doesn't
dobber - idiot
doesn'ae - doesn't
dolton - idiot
doon - down
dram - a measure of whiskey
efter - after
eh' - right
'ere - here
fer - for
frein - friend
fey - from
gae - get or give
git - a contemptible person
gonnae - going to
greetin' - dying
hae - have
hald - hold
haven'ae - haven't
heed - head
heedstart - head start
hid - had
hoovered - gobbled
intoxicated - drunk
kip - rest
lass - young girl
leavin - leaving
legless - drunk
me - my
nae - not
no' - not
noo - now
nothin' - nothing,
oan - on
o' - of
Och - an Olympian spirit who rules the sun
oot- out
packin- packing
pished - drunk
scooby - clue
scran - food
shite - shit
sittin' - sitting
so's - so as
somethin' - something
soonds ' sounds
stonking - stinking
tae - to
teasin' - teasing
thrawn - perverse, ill-tempered
tryin' - trying
wallops - idiot
wee -small
wheest - talking
whit's - what's
wi'- with
wid - would
wisnae - was not
withoot - without
wouldnae - wouldn't
ya - you
ye - you
yea - yes
ye'll - you'll
yer - your
yerself - yourself
ye're - you're
ye've - you've
About the Book
He saw the fire in her eyes and wished more than anything to play with it…
Raised among the nuns of Saint Martha’s Nunnery, Lady Rowena Cran is determined to dedicate her life to God. When her estranged father announces her impending nuptials to a distasteful man of means and power, she enlists the help of her fellow nuns and flees under the cover of night.
Taran Robertson, Laird of Frenich, is certain that a nun has no place among the English soldiers that ambush him while on his way to Scotland. Especially not one as beautiful as Rowena...
Tantalizing and unstoppable, the passion that brews between them is tainted not only by secrets but also by the manhunt launched to find them both. With Rowena’s intended looking to retrieve her and Taran promised to another, all hope seems lost.
But then, something else thought lost comes to light: a ring with a very familiar crest…
1
England, 1383
Rowena pushed a wayward strand of blonde hair behind her ear as she cut one more cabbage from its stalk. She had gone to the abbey garden to gather herbs and found Sister Prudence straining to harvest cabbages. Rowena said, “The garden is ripening early this autumn.”
Sister Prudence had paused. “Aye, and I have not had time to harvest it all.”
Rowena had taken the knife from her, saying, “Let me help you, Sister.”
“Thank ye, lass. Me strength fails me.” Sister Prudence held a sack open for Rowena.
“It’s my pleasure,” Rowena said, as she caressed Sister Prudence on her shoulder. “Please, save your strength for the cooking! You’re the best cook of all of us!”
Rowena moved to the next cabbage plant, sliced off the head and tossed it into the sack. She said, “And the way you are able to make enough for us and feed the poor folks. It’s impressive.”
Sister Prudence shrugged as if it was nothing. She said, “Times have been hard. Since the last wave of pestilence, so many people are goin’ hungry. Never have we had so many askin’ for food these days.”
Rowena nodded. “It seems to be a problem everywhere. Even my father . . . who, as you know, is used to getting what he wants . . . has complained that he cannot find enough laborers to work his fields. So many have died. And those who survived have been moving to the cities. The
y don’t want to do farm work for the magnates anymore. They want to learn a trade and make more money. Who can blame them?”
Once the cabbages were harvested, Rowena moved to the rows of herbs and flowers. She prayed a quiet prayer of gratitude for its bounty. Sister Prudence admired the beauty of it. She said, “Rowena, the garden is lovely. You seem to have a knack for the medicines and cures.”
“I do love that part of it.” Rowena said. “It’s amazing to me that God has endowed these plants with such healing powers. We have so much to learn about them. It makes me very happy to know that this little part of a dying rose,” Rowena held up the hip of a spent rose blossom, “can help ward off sickness.”
Sister Prudence shook her head in wonder. “Aye, tis’ a miracle.” She walked with Rowena down the garden row. Rowena picked some yarrow and then some echinacea for tea and tucked it into her heavy sack of vegetables. “Ye’ve learned all about this from Mother Lenora?”
“Yes,” Rowena said. “And from the books in the library. At night, when you and the other Sisters are sleeping, I like to tiptoe off to the library and study the books on medicine there. But you must promise, do not tell anyone about that, especially Mother Lenora.”
Sister Prudence chuckled, “Rowena, we all ken about yer midnight library visits!”
Rowena exclaimed, “No! You can’t know! How long have you known?”
“We’ve ken since ye were a child. Mother Lenora let ye dae it. She thought it was good for ye. She liked that ye loved to study.”
Rowena giggled. “And to think all this time I thought I was so clever. None of you ever mentioned anything to me about it! I don’t believe it!”
Rowena examined the plants and thought about why she loved learning about them so much. She said, “I suspect I love it because my mother died giving birth to my baby brother. She was in terrible pain for hours. The midwife came. And the physician. Nothing they did helped her. Her suffering haunts me even now. And the horror of the pestilence. I suppose I would like to find a way to cure people. Help ease their suffering.”
Sister Prudence said, “We all felt so sorry for ye. Ye were such a young lass. Ye were what, twelve, when ye came to here to us?”
“Yes. I miss my mother still. But my father. He could not be consoled. He never showed his grief in public, though. He had to keep up the façade, you know, being the Right Honorable Earl of Kensley, Alfred Cran, and all that.”
Sister Prudence chortled. “I guess when ye’re one of the most powerful noblemen in all of England, it’s important to keep up yer appearances.”
Rowena’s thoughts drifted back to those early days of her time at St. Martha’s abbey. Her father had insisted she come to St. Martha’s for her education. “I suppose,” she said. “It was seven years ago, and I was very spoiled, I now realize!”
“Of course ye were. Ye were Rowena Cran, Laird Kensley’s only daughter!” Sister Prudence laughed.
“And I still am,” Rowena said absently, her thoughts focused on some mint plants. It seemed nothing could kill mint. Why was that, she wondered. What made a plant like mint so vigorous, while other plants and animals can be so vulnerable to disease? To injury?
Church bells began clanging from St. Martha’s Nunnery. The bells called the abbey nuns to the morning’s third prayer service. “I love the sound of the bells,” Rowena said, as their song echoed in waves off the rolling hills of Jarrow, in Northumberland. “We’d better get going, or we’ll be late for service. We still need to clean up a bit!”
As Sister Prudence and the novitiate Rowena scrambled up the hillside to the abbey, Rowena said, “It’s funny, I hardly remember much about my life before my mother died.”
Sister Prudence said, “Yer life was nae doubt the envy of any little English lass.”
Rowena said, “I remember the day my father told me I was coming here.” He had taken Rowena by the hand and led her out for a walk in the garden at his estate at Middle Kirk Manor. He said he had decided to send her to St. Martha’s Nunnery, in Northumberland.
Rowena remembered what her father had told her that day in the garden years ago. She had to learn the manners expected of a noblewoman of rank and refinement. How to weave, to spin, to manage servants, to tend to the sick and injured. He had said, “All of these are skills expected of an English lady of your stature. Some day you will be a wife. A mother. Remember, God is always there for both of us.”
Rowena had clung to his words through the years.
To Rowena, Mother Lenora and the abbey sisters looked old and frightening. But when Rowena met Sister Prudence, she brightened up. Sister Prudence had a sweetness about her that was rather grandmotherly and sisterly at the same time. Something about the way her green eyes twinkled when she smiled and the faint brogue in her speech endeared her to Rowena. Sister Prudence made Rowena feel like she could tell her any secret and she would never tell a soul.
When they arrived at the abbey kitchen, Rowena gently dropped the big sack of vegetables on the floor. It was heavy, but her years of living at the priory had made her strong and sinewy.
She found bread dough covered with a cloth. A bowl of cherries sat next to it.
Sister Prudence followed Rowena into the kitchen. She said, “Me dear child, thank ye! Some of these will go into the potage right after prayers, and just in time for our hungry visitors.”
Sister Prudence then plucked a ripe, red cherry from a bowl on the table. She put a finger to her lips and said, “Shhh.” With mischievous eyes, the nun placed the cherry in Rowena’s hand. Rowena grinned at the treat and gave Sister Prudence a warm hug and peck on the cheek.
“Your secret’s safe with me, Sister!” Rowena said, popping the cherry into her mouth.
The nun said, “Me dear, it has been such a pleasure havin’ ye with us these last seven years. It’s hard to believe ye will finish yer tutelage here next year. Have ye decided yet what ye plan to dae?”
“I think so, Sister. May I confide in you? I’d like your advice about something,” Rowena said. From the moment Rowena arrived at St. Martha’s, the nuns had taken her in as one of their own. They adored the little girl. They taught her good manners, how to weave, and how to speak French. Rowena was not the only girl the nuns had ever schooled. Mother Lenora saw that Rowena was especially interested in the healing arts and had worked to teach her all she could. But Rowena and Sister Prudence had a special closeness between them.
“Of course, me dear. Let’s talk on our way to chapel or we’ll be late!” Sister Prudence handed Rowena a damp cloth. They wiped the garden dirt and debris off their hands. Rowena offered an arm to Sister Prudence as they walked to the chapel.
As they walked arm in arm, Rowena said, “You know, I’ve been thinking of becoming a nun but I’ve had some doubts. Yesterday at morning prayers, I thought I heard God’s calling. I believe He wants me to follow the path and take the vows to become a novice. Yet, I still have some reservations about it. I cannot explain why. It is nagging me. If you can tell me, Sister, I need to know. Did you have doubts when you decided to follow the path?”
Sister Prudence smiled. “Aye, Rowena. I had me doubts at first. But once I took me vows, me doubts disappeared. Lookin’ back I ken it was the best decision I ever made. However, the fact that it was right for me does nae mean it is right for ye. Tis’ a deeply personal decision. Tis’ good that ye are mullin’ it over carefully. Have ye talked it over with yer faither?”
Rowena said, “Some. He knows I’m thinking about it. I haven’t yet told him that I’m close to a decision. I plan to tell him when he next visits me.” I hope he will be happy about it, she thought.
Sister Prudence squeezed Rowena’s arm. “He will want to ken that.”
“I only hope I make the right choice,” Rowena said, a bit of doubt still sounding in her voice.
“Trust in yer heart, child. God speaks to us in the still small voice that we hear in our hearts. He will not steer ye wrong,” Sister Prudence said.
Rowena bit her lip. “Yes, I believe I have heard that voice. But please, Sister, promise me you will keep it secret for now. I must tell my father when he is here next before I tell anyone else.”
Sister Prudence gave her another hug. “Of course I will, dear! I ken ye will make the right choice.”
Rowena said, “Thank you, and thank you so for your years of friendship, Sister. I am eternally grateful to God for sending me here. I have learned so much, and I love you all!”
Near the chapel door, Rowena waited in line behind Sister Prudence and the other nuns to dip her hands in the holy water. As she waited her turn, she quickly re-pinned her long hair. She caught a glimpse of herself in a reflection off a piece in a stained-glass window. In her old life, people would often tell her she had inherited her mother’s beauty. As an adolescent, Rowena had enjoyed hearing those compliments, but now Rowena no longer cared about such things. Besides, she didn’t feel especially attractive with her cheeks rosy and dewy with sweat from working in the garden.