In Her Highlander's Bed (Highland Brides #11)

Lynsay Sands

Blurb:

An invigorating swim in the loch was exactly what Calan Campbell, Laird of Kilcairn, needed after defeating his enemies in battle. What he didn’t need was a thief running away with his plaid while he swam. Calan gave chase and managed to catch the lad, only the lad turned out to be a lass, and obviously a lady. Having hit her head when he’d tackled her to the ground, the woman was now unconscious and couldn’t explain how she had ended up bruised and naked in his woods. He’d have to take her back to his castle and tend her wounds to learn that.

Kidnapped and forced to wed her clan’s enemy, Allissaid MacFarlane had risked death to escape. But after a struggle over a plaid she tried to “borrow,” she awakens in a strange bed with a strange man seated in a chair beside her. Unsure if he is friend or foe, she claims not to remember her own name or how she’d come to be in the clearing. However, the more time she spends with Calan, the more she falls for this strong, honorable laird. She soon decides she can trust him with her life. . . but can she trust him with her heart

Themes: Historical

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

OMFG I have been dying to find out where Lynsay was going to go with this subarc and I just knew it was going to be fabulous. For longtime fans of this series, you’ve probably been waiting right along with me to see where this story would go for the last couple novels as this family was tortured by their enemy. Lynsay has such a way with her plotline and her villains that you just never second guess that it is entirely possible someone was one just that evil and want to reach for a history book to see if it’s something you missed in your studies in the past. Calan Campbell is having an illicit swim in the loch, trying to shake off an old injury when he finds himself rescue and breathing life back into a naked lass that is near death. Allissaid MacFarlane has finally escaped her kidnapper, just in time to prevent a rape that would have left her forced to remain married to the murder and thieving bastard, when she wakens in the home of an unknown and intimidating handsome man. Pretending to have lost her memory seems like just the course to take until she can suss out where she is and if she is truly safe or has landed herself in the home of an enemy. The more time she spends with Calan though the more Allissaid comes to care for him and his family, then she learns who he truly is and that connection quickly blossoms into a love that she cannot deny. Calan’s feelings for Allissaid are just as undeniable and when their families propose a permanent link between them, he jumps at the chance to make her is for certain. But their enemy is lurking just around the corner and will stop at nothing to get what he’s always wanted, no matter who he has to kill or what plan he has to enact. Can Calan and Allissaid beat the bastard at his own game, with the help of her powerful new family or will their love forever be torn apart? Allissaid was a perfect heroine for a highland romance novel; she was willing to fight tooth and nail not just to maintain her freedom and innocence, but to get free from her captor so that she could return to her family to keep them safe. She literally risked her life because she was unwilling to give in to him, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of defeating him. She as sharp, wise, rational, perceptive, and thought through each of her moves until she found herself in safe territory. I loved seeing her when she found herself with the Campbell clan, finally allowing herself to calm down and take a breath, making friends and finding love when she has been so tightly wound for so long. It was truly beautiful to watch her come out of the shell of her fear in order to blossom into the woman for Calan. I also loved seeing her interacting with the Buchannan men and the Campbell women of course, she was not a pushover by any means and it was fun to see her kick butt metaphorically as well as physically. Calan was the perfect hero to match Allissaid, a man willing to risk himself for a defenseless woman, and then willing to take the time to think about her reputation and take into account others’ opinions about her instead of throwing her to the wolves in order to just do the bare minimum. I loved seeing him with his men, his sister and mother, and of course as he worked to bring Allissaid out of her shell. He was an alpha through and through, but not an ass with in, instead a sweetheart and a darling of a Laird. I am really looking forward to more in this series and hope it continues a long time in the future with many more twists and turns. Sands struck gold once again.