Showing results by author "Julie Johnstone" in All Categories

When Marion de Lacy faces an unwelcome marriage to an evil knight, she concocts a desperate scheme to avoid it—feign her death and flee England. But her plan goes awry, and she’s captured by a Scottish barbarian who informs her that he’s to marry her by edict of her king. With little choice, she weds the strangely compelling but obstinate laird of the MacLeod clan. He may be a big, burly Highlander, but she’s one wee lass with a huge stubborn streak who’s about to storm her new husband’s hardened heart and claim it for the love she’s always longed for.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and no one is more desperate than Highlander Alasdair MacRae. His clan is on the verge of disaster thanks to continuous raids from the lying, thieving, murdering MacKenzies. Their latest strike has left Alasdair’s family on the precipice of starvation, and his brother badly wounded. The time has come to hit back, and what better blow to deliver than to kidnap his enemy’s daughter and use her to negotiate much-needed peace.

Betrayed by her father, Marsaili Campbell risks her life to recover what he has stolen from her. But when she's kidnapped and wagered away, she has no one to help her escape other than the very man she's spent the past three years trying to forget; Highland warrior Callum Grant. She once gave her heart and her innocence to the handsome Scot, only to regret her naive decisions. Still, with more enemies than she can battle alone, she needs an ally, even if she must hide the truth of her circumstances from him. Laird Callum Grant thrust his clan into war for the love of a woman, only to lose her forever. But when the woman he believed dead appears at his clan’s tourney in dire trouble, there’s no denying Marsaili has been alive all this time. With his clan weakened from the years of raids and battles, however, he cannot afford to do anything that would ruin the betrothal he’s made to secure his clan’s future. Yet he can’t turn away from the woman who once beguiled him body and soul.

Brus Stone can't recall his life before being rescued at the age of five and brought to live with the Northern Watch. Told his mother abandoned him, he's about as willing to give his trust to a woman as he is to hand his sword to his enemy during battle. When he's tasked with accompanying some highlanders through the treacherous lands he helps patrol, he encounters a bonny lass who proves to be as brave as any warrior he's ever met. He's surprised and wary by his pull to her and steels himself against lowering his guard.

I came to Campbell castle to destroy them, not to fall in love. The witch’s goblet promised any wish, any power. I stole it to avenge my murdered family. But magic always comes with a price and every time I use my gift, I’m in danger. And the Campbell laird, Ross—fiercely honorable, maddeningly protective, and impossible to ignore—was never part of my plan. Posing as a healer was supposed to bring me closer to my adversaries. Instead, every secret I uncover pulls me closer to Ross—and to the truth about who really betrayed us both.

A bargain born of desperation ignites into passion as one lord’s quest to save his family leads to the discovery that he can never settle for less than love. Forsaken, abandoned, and duped, Miss Jemma Adair has no other recourse but to request her grandfather’s help to avoid living on the streets. His asking price? She must marry a neighboring lord’s odious son. Thankfully, there is a way out of her dilemma—ensuring the rake never asks for her hand.

Laird Liam MacLeod is not lacking for lasses who wish to marry him. As chief of one of the few remaining stable and wealthy clans in the Highlands, the scheming misses are more than plentiful; too plentiful, in fact, for a man who desires to marry for love. Given the opportunity to escape to London for the holidays, Liam takes it with a halfhearted expectation that perhaps English ladies will be different.

Legendary warrior Lachlan MacLeod has never encountered anything or anyone he could not conquer. But when his younger brother confesses his love for Bridgette MacLean - the only woman Lachlan has ever wanted - Lachlan turns away from the beautiful Scottish lass, vowing to be no more than her friend. Yet his need for Bridgette enslaves him and may well prove to be the one thing he cannot defeat.

Lady Eve Sotherby dreams of escaping her horrid life in England, yet she has nowhere to run. So when she spies a posting for a companion in the Highlands, she seizes the chance to disappear. She’s heard tales about the barbaric Highlanders, of course, but no one can be worse than the beast she once foolishly agreed to wed. And never mind that she doesn’t meet any of the requirements for the position: must have no family, must love the cold, and must know the healing arts.

The day Elena MacLeod’s arrow pierced Rolland MacKay’s arse, she fell in love with the ruggedly handsome Scot, despite her better judgment. After all, he was known as the Highland Heartbreaker. Given that, it should have come as no surprise when he disappeared without a trace the day before they were to be wed. But she had become a hopeless fool for the warrior and was devastated. Four years later, when the Highlander resurfaces just as mysteriously as he vanished, Elena is thrilled…until it’s clear the rogue doesn’t deserve her unwavering devotion.

Callum, the Marquess of Kilgore, long ago accepted that he was no saint. So when he’s offered a shameful bet - to seduce the lady some have dubbed the “Ice Queen” and recover the land he foolishly gambled away - he agrees. Yet, as he comes to know Lady Constantine, he realizes this kind and pure woman deserves far better than a reprobate like himself. Now, he would do anything to protect her from the scandal he helped create, even ruthlessly pushing her away. It seems he hasn’t fallen quite as far into sin as he thought....

No one desires retribution against their enemy more than Highlander Cormac MacLean. Yet his foe has the favor of the king, and Cormac lacks irrefutable proof of the man’s nefarious deeds, so revenge must be planned with calculated care. But when Cormac’s hot-headed brother impulsively attempts to kidnap their enemy’s stepsister, Cormac finds himself fleeing with the wounded beauty after she sustains an injury trying to protect him.

Scarred by the cruel whims of her late husband, Lena MacLeod lives in fear of men and marriage. So when the king's edict obliges her to wed Scottish warrior Alex MacLean, she never expects to feel safe, let alone happy. But behind Alex's fierce exterior lies a gentle, gallant highlander who renews her soul, emboldens her, and offers her the one thing she never thought she would possess - true love. Now that Alex has her whole heart, she'll settle for nothing less than all of his.

Desperate to keep his children and clan from starving, Laird Alasdair MacLachlan joins the ranks of mercenaries searching for the missing lass of a powerful clan. The mission seems simple—find the lass, return her to her family, and claim the hefty reward. But when fate throws Sorcha MacGregor in his path, he discovers just how complicated one mule-headed, beguiling beauty can make things.

Fiercely focused Highland warrior Alexander Gordon has one goal—secure a coveted spot on the King’s Night Guard. Being born illegitimate and raised with the constant scorn of his father’s wife, he wants nothing more than a home of his own where he feels like he belongs, and the king’s elite warrior group is the only chance to achieve his dream. He doesn’t intend to let anything or anyone derail him, but then the brave beautiful Adeline Brodie strolls into his life, and the harder he tries to push her away to preserve his honor and dreams, the more it makes him want her.

When Murieall Buchannan asks for my protection, I offer her the only thing I have left—a bargain carved from sin. MurieallI stole a witch’s magic goblet to save my mama’s life and paid for my folly with a curse that binds me to the dead. The voices never stop. Their grief claws at my mind, and now people whisper I’m mad. My betrothal has been shattered, my reputation destroyed, and time is running out to break the curse before I lose everything. The witch’s answer to my pleas for forgiveness is as cruel as it is impossible: I must make the wickedest Scot in the Highlands feel again.

Duty drove him to possess her, but love will drive him to his knees. Eight years ago, savage Scots invaded Eve Decres’s home, murdering her family and plunging her into a nightmare. As sole heir to a strategically located castle on the border between Scotland and England, Eve became a prize to be wedded and bedded, and she fled into hiding. She survived by clinging to two dreams: one day reclaiming her inheritance, and finding love to build a new family from the ashes of her loss.

New Orleans, 2020. Billionaire Rhys McCaim doesn’t believe for one second that his missing mother is a time traveler. Still, his father insists that she didn’t leave them willingly but was pulled through time to her true home in medieval Scotland. But when he and his three brothers test out an ancient time-traveling spell to appease their dying father and Rhys is catapulted to 13th-century Scotland, he can’t exactly deny it anymore. Suddenly, he’s a Highlander in a land on the verge of war.

In the rugged Highlands, a proud warrior is about to fall. Highlander Brus MacLeod doesn't want the betrothal forced upon him, and he certainly does not intend to take the woman as his wife, no matter who commands it. He has every intention of driving the unexpectedly feisty lass to break the marriage contract and has no plans to let her into his head, bed, or heart. But then the funny, warm slip of a woman invades his home, his life, his soul, and he finds himself unable to forget her, even when she seems to have utterly forgotten him.

Fierce, famed Highland warrior Broch MacLeod has always been a bastard - until one day he isn’t. And now that he’s discovered his real family, he intends to do whatever it takes to carve a place for himself in it, including wedding the lass known as the Hellion of the Highlands...When strong-willed, independent Katreine Kinntoch is forced to wed her sworn enemy’s son, she vows never to surrender her body or heart to the wickedly handsome, too-cocky Scot. Instead, she intends to make him dislike her so much that he’ll gladly send her back to her home.