The Loveless Marriage

Book excerpt: After centuries of violence between the feuding McBrara and MacSteel Clans in the Scottish Highlands, a fragile peace is about to break into a new war when one of the MacSteels' shepherds is murdered allegedly by the McBraras. In a desperate attempt to avoid further bloodshed before the imminent visit of the English King George IV, the Laird of the MacSteels proposes that they unite the Clans with a marriage and the Earl of Braradale agrees somewhat reluctantly. And so the Laird's daughter, the elfin young beauty, Fyna, is obliged to marry a man she has never even met - the Earl of Braradale himself. Thus they are both ready to enter into a loveless marriage to save their Clans from further bloodletting and strife. For his part the Earl is dreading the marriage, imagining that she will be 'pious and heavily built', while for her part Fyna too dreads a loveless union with a man she does not love and who will look down at her as his inferior. As the two Clans celebrate their Wedding, the reluctant bride and groom begin to become acquainted and from the start both are pleasantly surprised to find that they have much in common, notably that they are both fey as many Scots are and can sense each other's thoughts and moods. But it is only when the life of her new husband is imperilled by her murderous cousin, Hamish, that Fyna suddenly realises that she has fallen deeply in love.