Part of Mackenzies & McBrides
First published 2020
It is Christmas 1746, and Stuart Cameron is being smuggled across Scotland by two roguish Highlanders named Gair and Padruig. The price of their help is a task Stuart must complete before he can consider the debt paid. The problem is that the one person capable of helping him is Fiona Macdonald, and her brother stands squarely in Stuart's way as an enemy. Stuart has to approach Fiona anyway. She is sharp, capable, and not inclined to trust a man her family has reason to despise. What starts as a practical arrangement between two people on opposite sides of a bitter divide becomes something neither of them planned for. Stuart needs Fiona to survive the mission Gair and Padruig have set him. Fiona has her own reasons for saying yes. The Scottish winter closes in around them both, and the distance between enemy and ally gets harder to measure. At its center this story asks what it costs two people to reach across the lines drawn for them and decide for themselves what loyalty means.
Genres: fiction, romance, historical-fiction, adult, historical-romance
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, romantic, tension-filled
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, political-divide, slow-burn-romance
Setting: Scotland, Scottish Highlands
Period: 1746, Christmas 1746, 18th century
83 pages · Kindle Edition · JA / AG Publishing
Content warnings: violence, war