A stranger walks among the Macquarie clan. But is she their destiny…or their doom? Don’t miss the alluring fifth Brothers of Wolf Isle book from USA Today bestselling author Heather McCollum… Releasing on September 30, 2024, this book is currently available for pre-order. Find out where to order here.
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Eagan walked to the hearth and added a square of dry peat before crouching to blow under it. He must think they were remaining there. Was he presumptuous or merely seeking her comfort?
Tessa watched the play of muscles under the white tunic that was stretched across his back from broad shoulder to broad shoulder. Was Eagan Macquarie a good lover? He looked fit, confident, and every inch man.
Her mother had endured sloppy and selfish attentions in the bed chamber, first with the king and then some of his courtiers, but Rebecca had wanted her daughter to understand how pleasurable physical love could be with an expert lover. She’d explained much with words and sketches and then hired a tutor for her daughter once she reached the age of twenty. Tessa knew the difference between an attentive lover and a selfish, hasty-witted coxcomb. And from the kiss and how Eagan touched various things in her cottage, she guessed he was of the attentive variety.
“You should stay,” Tessa said. Eagan looked at her over his shoulder. She indicated the windows where rain beat a rapid pulse. “Unless you wish to return to the castle soaked through.”
He stood slowly, glancing at the door like a maiden realizing she was locked in with a wily fox of a man. “I won’t attack you,” she added. “And you can leave. I’m merely saying that ‘tis—”
“Do ye attack men?” The edge of his mouth rose, and she remembered how those lips felt against hers. Warm, soft but powerful too.
She returned his half grin with her own. “Not frequently enough to answer oui and not never to say non.”
His brow rose, but his mouth dropped to seriousness. “Have ye had to defend yerself then?”
She snorted softly. “In this world, everyone must defend themselves from the smallest kitten to the surliest butcher.”
He walked over, gently resting his hands on her shoulders. “I have no right to pry, Tessa, but my sisters-by-marriage have had to defend themselves from villainous men before they came here and married my brothers. Ye can find comfort talking with them.”
She met his gaze with steely determination. “I’ve met many villainous men, but I thwarted them.” She’d learned to get out of every situation, even crawling out a window to slide along a ledge to safety. Staying physically fit, agile, and silent had saved her emotional stability and even her life several times. One didn’t circulate in the viper’s nest of court without becoming slippery as a serpent too.
Tessa raised her hand to Eagan’s cheek, feeling the soft bristle of his closely trimmed beard. “You, Eagan Macquarie, are not a villainous man. I believe you to be a good man.” He was also tall, so she slipped her hand up to his neck and around the back. Eagan lowered his face without resistance, claiming her lips.
Despite the confidence she displayed in her movements, her heart slammed hard. Eagan’s arms came around her like the granite walls encircling a castle, and she felt protected within them. And that feeling of trust and protection was intoxicating. Perhaps that was why the heat had risen from a whisp of smoke to an inferno in minutes.
She trusted Eagan Macquarie.
To enjoy the passions of the flesh in full, one must have absolute trust in their partner.
She hadn’t been attracted to the sophisticated instructor her mother had hired to teach Tessa about feeling satisfied in passion, but she’d trusted him enough because her mother did.
Tessa slanted her lips against Eagan’s, pressing against the taut muscles of his frame. His erection pressed against her, feeling long and hard and very capable. Mon Dieu. A rush of heat slid down through her abdomen to dampen the crux between her legs, and thoughts of what she should do and what Eagan should do faded from her mind as instincts took over.
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A stranger walks among the Macquarie clan. But is she their destiny…or their doom? Don’t miss the alluring fifth Brothers of Wolf Isle book from USA Today bestselling author Heather McCollum
Eagan Macquarie doesn’t believe in love—nor does he want a wife. There is an entire world beyond Wolf Isle, and mo Dhia, he will seek it out. But the Macquarie curse will continue to haunt his family unless Eagan finds a suitable bride to break the hex once and for all. Now he must choose between a marriage he does not want or abandoning his family…until a comely stranger catches his eye.
Claudette Tempest Ainsworth—known as Tessa—is a learned French midwife who’s been waiting for her father to come fetch her from the harsh winds and sea of Scotland and return her to her beloved France. But with Eagan, she finds something unexpected: a flame of desire, hot and almost terrifying in its intensity. But even the brightest fires cannot sustain the inevitable distance that’s soon to follow…
Tessa seems to have bewitched them all. But when danger threatens Wolf Isle and the Macquaries, Eagan discovers that the love he never believed in might be his clan’s salvation…or its devastating downfall.
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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.
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