EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT: The Highlander’s Secret Avenger

From USA TODAY Bestselling author Heather McCollum comes a new instalment in the Brothers of Wolfe Isle! Set to release August 21, 2023, this book is currently available for pre-order. Find out where to pre-order here.

“You have a lover’s lips.”

Drostan’s hand froze, and he turned, still crouched down. “Pardon?”

She stood beside the writing table and squinted at him. “Very not hideous.” She glared and walked closer to him. “They aren’t thin and pinched, although a smile would make you more likely to be kissed.”

Bloody hell. He straightened, setting the poker against the hearth, and examined her. “The whisky is making ye say things ye’ll regret.” With her hair flowing free around her shoulders, windblown and full of loose waves, and her bodice sitting a bit lower than proper, she looked ravished. His whole body tightened, his jack hardening under his woolen wrap. Without looking down, he adjusted himself.

“Life is full of regrets.” Her tone held a shrug. She moved right before him and pushed her finger against the corner of his mouth, trying to create a smile. Her other finger pushed the opposite corner.

He stood still, not daring to move with his restraint feeling so thin, for he had a sudden desire to suck one of those precious fingers into his mouth. Step away. Leave! But then a voice in his head pounded over the rest. Kiss her.

She remained close even though she dropped her hands, tilting her face. His fingers slid along a curl that had gotten stuck at the corner of her mouth. He plucked it free and brushed it behind her ear. Mo chreach. The slip of hair did feel like silk.

“If you have a lover’s lips,” Lia said, “then you should kiss. ’Tis a responsibility.”

Her words rattled the bars he’d placed around himself, and he tried again to take control of this situation that felt like it was spiraling into something molten. “Ye ran away to go to Grissell’s home on Wolf Isle.”

She blinked as if lost but didn’t pull away. “Yes. To find the Macquaries.” She grabbed his hand. “And I caught one.”

“Ye did,” he said. She was close, her body giving off warmth and the smell of some flower. “What are ye going to do now?” he asked.

She tipped her head to the side, her hand sliding up his arm to his biceps, squeezing the muscle that he naturally tightened. She exhaled long. “I don’t want you to die.”

Drostan froze. Die? “Why would I die?”

Her other hand joined the first to wrap around it, although her fingers couldn’t touch. “So large.” She looked up into his face and inhaled. “You, Drostan, have large muscles, smell good, and are clean. I think I will kiss you first.”

“Before I die?”

She didn’t answer but stepped into him, her hands clasped around his thick arm. She reached up on the tips of her toes and leaned toward his face, pressing her lips there. The questions still running in his brain slowed and stopped as the warmth of her lips penetrated. She stood still as if unsure what to do, but Drostan knew what to do. Pull away. Don’t be an arse.

Instead, Drostan tilted her face to the side. She was relaxed and tasted of honey ale. Her arms came up to his neck to pull herself into the bend of his body. Good bloody lord, every part of her that touched him was soft and beckoning. He should pull away, but felt caught in a fragrant, warm snare that he might never desire to leave. All of it wrapped around him and filled him like a siren’s song infiltrating his soul. Her lips parted under his mouth as a small moan came out with her breath. The effect of that small sound on his jack was immediate and forceful, and his arms encircled her, lifting her against him so that the crux of her legs fit along his hard length. His hands played along her spine that arched gently, thrusting her body against him.

The door of the library opened. “Macquarie! What the devil are ye doing?”

USA Today bestselling author Heather McCollum returns with the next hero of Wolf Isle—who’s about to receive a wicked taste of vengeance that looks a lot like love…

Each book in the Brothers of Wolf Isle series is STANDALONE:
* The Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal
* The Highlander’s Pirate Lass
* The Highlander’s Tudor Lass
* The Highlander’s Secret Avenger

Heather McCollum is a USA Today Bestselling author of over twenty 16th century Scottish romances full of adventure and intrigue, sprinkled with humor, history, and spice. When she’s not researching Britain’s rich history or writing adventures, she spends her time educating women on the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer. She’s a survivor and resides with her very own Highland hero and three spirited children in the wilds of suburbia on the mid-Atlantic coast.