Highland Defender from Julie Johnstone!

From the bestselling author of the Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts series comes a new, richly drawn Scottish historical romance saga! The Renegade Scots series sweeps you into medieval Scotland and England and transports you into dangerous deceptions and daring feats with swoon-worthy heroes and fiery romances!

To protect herself, she’ll deny her powers. To save her, he’ll break every rule he’s vowed to live by.

Lillianna de Burgh knows all about the legend surrounding the women in her family—that true love awakens the gift of sight within them. But given the horrific betrayals the power has brought her ancestors, she wants no part in true love or the supposed gift. Avoiding her fate seems simple enough since men have proven time and again that they wish to use her, not cherish her, even her own kin. Thankfully, when she flees England to escape her evil uncle, she finds herself in the company of a seemingly hard-hearted Highlander who thinks the legend nothing more than a myth. As they travel together, she comes to discover that behind Angus’s cold facade lies a fierce and honorable protector, whose mere touch ignites the passion within her. Yet, the more she tries to resist it, the more she seems to fall.

Renowned Highland warrior Angus MacLorh lives by three principles: put country above self, protect family at all costs, and never become entangled with a lass—not again. So when his future king needs him to accompany the far-too-lovely Lillianna to safety, Angus agrees, confident he can keep her at a distance, as he does all women. Yet the gentle, fiercely determined lady intrigues and tempts him at every turn, and when his greatest enemy captures her, he finds himself breaking all his rules to save her.

As the fight for the Scottish throne embroils Lillianna and Angus deep in danger, enemies near and far hunt them, threatening their very lives. When the truth of the legend finally comes to light, can a woman determined to escape her destiny and a Highlander bent on facing his future alone overcome the barriers they’ve created and trust in their hearts to lay claim to the most glorious of loves?

Find your copy online:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2r4IJd5

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Apple Books: https://goo.gl/TtyLCa

Kobo: https://goo.gl/rkRTwc

Google Play: https://goo.gl/93u3Ar

Excerpt:

“I am not your enemy,” Lillianna said through clenched teeth.

“Ye are,” Angus shot back, “until ye prove otherwise. And if ye ever fail to abide by one of my wishes, I will leave ye and nae look back.”

Here was a situation unlike any she had ever encountered. This man distrusted her just as much as she distrusted him. It should have made her ecstatic. They could travel together and ignore each other. Yet she did not feel overly happy. She felt ridiculously hurt. She had lost more than sleep in the dungeon; it seemed she had lost her logic. She needed to recover it immediately. Having injured feelings over being judged duplicitous by a man who did not know her was irrational, and she was not an imprudent woman. Not to mention guilt was niggling in her. She had judged him, as well, and it was hard to deny in the face of his similar treatment.

She’d rather eat dirt than let the man know he’d managed to wound her heart in the few short minutes they’d known each other. It was supposed to be encased in iron! Plopping her hands on her hips, she said, “Perhaps it is I who will leave you in the woods if you prove too much of a hindrance to me.”

Elizabeth laughed beside Lord Bruce, and he chuckled. Angus frowned at her, but before he could offer a reply, Elizabeth tossed a priest’s frock at him. It was meant as a disguise so that he could safely ride into the woods to flee the castle with her and Elizabeth. No one would question her riding out with Elizabeth and a priest, but they would stop Angus.

“Put these on,” her cousin demanded.

Lillianna was vaguely aware that Elizabeth had turned her back to the men, and Lillianna meant to do the same but she could not seem to wrench her attention away from Angus. Everything about the man commanded notice. It wasn’t just his size, though his stature was impressive. He had his massive arms crossed over his wide chest as he stared at her. His powerful legs were spread in a wide, battle-ready stance, and the fingers of his right hand grazed the handle of his sword, as if he thought he might need to use it, while his left hand gripped the priest’s frock. But perhaps more than that, it was the tilt of his head, the slight cocksure curl of his lip, as if he were ready to refute any opposition to his command.

Suddenly, a very alarming, rather challenging, purely wolfish smile pulled the corners of his lips into a grin that could only be described as sinful. “If ye wish to watch me disrobe…” he said, slinging the priest’s frock over his shoulder and then hooking his index finger underneath the material of the braies that clung to his powerful hips. He arched his thick, dark eyebrows while tugging the material of his braies out just a bit. “I can oblige ye.”

She turned swiftly away, heat burning her cheeks, and quickly walked to where her cousin stood gawking at her. Lord Bruce moved past her toward Angus and growled, “Must ye be so antagonizing?”

“Aye,” the swine Angus replied, laughter clear in his voice.