DevilsHeart

Laura
Glenn

After Leah’s fiancé dumps her just before the wedding, the
shy librarian travels to Scotland alone in a quest for adventure. Getting ripped
through time and thrown into the arms of a muscular medieval bad boy, however,
is a bit more adventure than she had in mind. But Rathe’s sexual magnetism
overcomes her reserve and ignites a fiery passion she has never known.

To Rathe, wives are nothing but trouble. If it weren’t for
his lack of a male heir, he’d be content to remain single and tup whatever
tasty wench crosses his path. But that all changes when he meets Leah, a quiet,
gentle lass with a hidden lusty side who moves him as no other woman ever has.

Leah’s hunger for Rathe duels with her longing to return
home, but when a dark figure threatens the people she has come to love, Leah
must make a choice. In doing so, she discovers an inner strength she never
imagined.

A
Romantica®
time travel erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Highlands of Scotland, 2014

What an asshole.

Leah dropped her backpack to the grimy wooden floor, sending
up a poof of dust. The tiny one-room cabin with its ’seventies harvest-gold,
apartment-sized appliances on one side of the room and institutional-style,
metal-framed bed on the other looked nothing like the brochure Simon had shown to
her.

After four years of dating and two years as an engaged
couple, it was no secret he was a cheapskate. They had first met when he
approached her at the reference desk of the university law library in which she
worked while studying for her master’s in library science. He had wanted his
dime back for a photocopy which had gone awry. It wasn’t library policy to
refund money from the copy machine due to user error, but Simon had been so
well-spoken and even smiled at her. She handed him the dime without a second
thought.

Despite never having to worry about money his entire life,
especially now he worked as an attorney in a high-priced downtown law firm,
getting a good deal was always paramount to him. If he could get it faster and
cheaper, then he was a happy man. Most of the time it didn’t bother her. She
had grown up as the oldest daughter of a single mother who worked two jobs just
to keep her daughters housed and fed. And Leah’s library career didn’t exactly
set her up to live a life of luxury as an adult either.

But, just this once, she wanted something nice. A bit of
pampering on her honeymoon and he had assured her she would get it. Of course,
just last week he had also promised to show up for the rehearsal dinner the
night before their wedding. Instead, he sent her a text.

Sorry. Can’t do it. Please drop the ring off with my
secretary.

Leah retracted the handle of her rolling suitcase and shoved
it against the wall just inside the door of the cabin. Catching her reflection
in an old speckled mirror hanging on the wall as she turned back toward the
open door, she stopped to tuck a stray strand of auburn hair behind her ear.
She leaned closer and rubbed away a smudge of mascara below her hazel eyes.

Only a week prior, her eyes were swollen and red from crying
for two days straight after finding out through Facebook of all places that
Simon hadn’t dumped her because he wasn’t ready to get married—he had dumped
her because of Mandy, the new law clerk at his office. He’d mentioned her
several times, going on and on about how much she followed him around like a
puppy and hung on his every word. Leah hadn’t thought much about it. Simon had
always been a steady, very routine type of guy. It never occurred to her he
might cheat on her.

But there the photos were. All five-foot-two of buxom,
bleached-blonde, blue-eyed, half-naked Mandy draped across Simon at a pool in
Las Vegas the weekend before Leah and Simon were to have been married.

Then there were the photos of them kissing near a roulette
table.

And yet more with an Elvis impersonator where Simon’s hand
was clearly resting on Mandy’s teeny-tiny, size-double-zero ass.

Only Leah’s sister, Dani, could snap her out of the funk.
She’d never liked Simon and always told Leah she could do so much better. He’d
often been critical of Leah, especially since the engagement. Her clothes and
hair were never fashionable enough. She was too shy and quiet at firm
gatherings where Simon was always trying to impress the partners. And when she
did speak, it was too often of books, history, and language instead of politics
or gossip, neither of which held any intrigue or fascination for her. Nothing
she said or did was ever quite good enough for Simon, but she never questioned
it at the time. Men didn’t exactly fall at her feet like they did for Dani. In
fact, Leah had only dated two other guys before Simon.

Dani often insisted men were intimidated by Leah, saying she
was too smart, too pretty, and too aloof for the comfort of most men. Leah had
always rolled her eyes at her sister. It was easy for Dani to talk. She didn’t
understand what it was like to be shy. Leah couldn’t help coming off as aloof,
though it was never her intention. And pretty? Whatever. Dani had received all
the beauty in the looks department.

In the end, Leah had chosen to put up with Simon. She was
nearing thirty, after all, and the pool of available men was dwindling by the
moment. She wanted a family and stability. And he could be sweet and loving at
times. Why give him up?

But now here she was, alone and unmarried on what was
supposed to be her honeymoon in the romantic Highlands of Scotland. People, her
mother in particular, thought she was insane for going alone. Dani had
insisted, however, and had even packed Leah’s bags for her. Leah had almost
refused to get out of Dani’s car at the airport, but Dani threatened to drag
her through the security line. She urged Leah to do something wild and
unexpected for once. To ignore her near-constant reservations about doing
something different and unfamiliar and instead explore the world and open
herself to whatever life threw her way.

It had always been Dani’s approach to life. Leah was the
dutiful, responsible older sister while Dani had run wild. Leah had vacuumed,
washed the dishes, and stayed home with her nose in a book while stirring
strange orange powder from store-brand boxed macaroni and cheese into steaming
pasta and half-melted butter while their mother worked. She’d gotten straight
As, never kissed a guy until she was a freshman in college, and had closely adhered
to the nine o’clock curfew her mother had set. Dani, on the other hand, ignored
the curfew, hid weed under the mattress, backpacked across Europe, and shacked
up with a sculptor in Paris for a few months, all before the age of nineteen.

Though Leah enjoyed Dani’s stories of her adventures, a
secret thread of jealousy had always wound its way through her. What would her
life be like if she’d only been half as confident and daring as her younger
sister?

Leah shoved her hand into the front pocket of her jeans and
pulled out the key to the cabin as she stepped outside. She had spied a small
loch through the trees as she hiked her luggage up the driveway to the cabin
and she was determined to see her first sunset in the Highlands from the banks
of that loch. She yanked the creaky door shut and locked it before twisting the
doorknob to test the lock a couple of times.

She skirted a large, gray granite boulder which marked the
beginning of the worn path through the woods to the loch. Her scalp ached and
she pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair and slipped it around her wrist
as she made her way toward the woods. She shook her hair out, allowing her long
tresses to flow down her back. From now on, she would wear her hair down as
often as possible. Simon had always preferred it when she pulled it back,
telling her it gave her a sleeker, more modern appearance, right before
suggesting she get a haircut. But Leah had always adored her long hair,
considering it to be one of the few attractive things about her, and refused to
chop off any of it.

Twigs and dried leaves crackled beneath her feet with every
step. The blue-gray cast of water peeked at her from between the trees. As she
broke through the brush, the loch spread before her with an expanse of
low-lying green mountains topped with mist hugging its shore on the opposite
side. Small rivulets of water trickled down from the mountaintops, around
craggy rocks, and spilled into the water below. Her shoulders eased as a
peculiar mixture of calm and excitement swirled within her.

She had seen countless pictures of Scotland over the years
but she had not been prepared for the strange, aching relief that gripped her
heart as she stared out across the water. Only one word echoed in her mind.

Home.

Her brows drew together. Weird. She’d never been outside the
States before and adored the little corner of the earth in which she’d spent
most of her life. Maybe Minneapolis and the surrounding ‘burbs weren’t the most
exciting places, but she’d never had any real complaints other than an
unfulfilled desire to travel through Europe. Maybe it was because her paternal
grandfather had been born and raised in Thurso, a town that hugged the shore of
mainland Scotland far to the north. Unfortunately, once Leah’s father had left,
her mother flat-out refused to allow Leah’s paternal grandparents any contact
with either her or Dani. Maybe that’s what the strange sensations were
about—reconnecting with her severed roots.

A chilled wind swept around her, carrying a soft song to her
ears. She searched down the hill along the bank of the loch until her eyes
landed on a hunched figure with a faded black cloak draped across bony
shoulders. With a cane in one hand, the person ambled along the shore, stooping
now and then to pick at one of the plants growing close to the loch.

The song floated back to Leah again just as a fog rolled
down the lush green mountains to shroud the loch. She pulled the collar of her
cream-colored cardigan together at the base of her neck as she shivered.

The figure stumbled to her knees. Leah gasped and leapt down
the embankment. She dashed toward the figure and grasped her elbow. The woman’s
almost skeletal hand reached for her.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Oh, dearie me!” the old lady proclaimed with a cackle that
shot a peculiar shiver through Leah’s skin. “It does not seem so long ago I was
as light on my feet as you are now, lassie!”

Leah smiled, assisting the small woman to stand. She stooped
to retrieve the cane that had slipped out from underneath the old woman and
handed it to her. The old-fashioned gray shift dress she wore hung on her thin
frame like a sheet draped over a coatrack.

“I’m sure you just caught your foot on a rogue rock or
something. It happens to the best of us.” She glanced down at the worn brown
leather of the woman’s shoes peeking out beneath her skirts. They appeared
almost homemade.

The old lady chuckled again, turned her wizened, ancient
face up to Leah, and grinned. Wisps of pure white hair escaped from the black
hood covering her head.

“Do you need any help? I could gather whatever you need if
you point it out,” Leah offered, gesturing toward the woven basket hanging from
the woman’s arm. She could break a hip wandering around the rocky shore of the
loch like this.

The woman waved a gaunt hand at her. “No, no, lassie. I have
been walking this shore for as long as I can remember. I will be just fine. But
you. You need help.”

Leah’s brows drew together in confusion at the woman’s odd
statement. Sympathy radiated from the woman’s faded gray eyes as she reached
toward Leah’s face.

The elderly woman dragged one cold finger across her cheek
and sighed. “Such a pretty thing. That one was not meant to be yours. Do not
worry though. Your man will be along soon enough. He is a bit of a devil but
his heart is wrought of the finest gold. You mark my words. You are home now.”

An inexplicable chill slithered up Leah’s spine and she took
a hesitant step backward. The woman’s eyes sparkled with shimmering silver
lights.

The lights dulled and Leah blinked several times. It must
have been her imagination. The poor thing probably wasn’t in full possession of
her faculties any longer and certainly didn’t mean any harm. She nodded and
smiled.

“That is a good lass,” the woman crooned, her eyes
disappearing into the wrinkles that surrounded them as she smiled. She reached
into her basket. Withdrawing her now-closed fist, she extended it out to Leah.

Leah hesitated and opened her palm, her eyes darting between
the woman’s hand and her face. An amber-colored stone pendant attached to a
thin strip of leather fell into Leah’s hand.

“A little something for your trouble.”

Leah shifted her feet. She didn’t need or want anything for
helping the elderly lady. It was simply the kind thing to do. “Thank you, but
it was no trouble at all.”

She studied the pendant, marveling at its translucent
nature. Some sort of quartz, perhaps? An odd jolt zipped through her hand and
up her arm to her head. A buzz tickled her ears and she swayed as her vision
blurred.

And then a split second later all was normal. She sucked in
a breath and stared at the stone, half expecting it to happen again. She lifted
her gaze but the woman had vanished.

She whipped around and scanned both the loch and the expanse
of woods for the woman. The fog that had been making its way down the mountains
toward the loch now nipped at the edge of the dense woods and threatened to
swirl around her. Uneasiness settled into the pit of her stomach.

What the hell had just happened?

The stone warmed as she rubbed the pad of her thumb back and
forth over one of the smooth facets.

Your man will be along soon enough. He is a bit of a
devil but his heart is wrought of the finest gold.

Her thumb paused over the stone.
Her man?
The last
thing she needed right now was a man, least of all “a bit of a devil”. She’d
already dodged a bullet with Simon who’d seemed like a stand-up guy for the
most part. Who on earth could the old woman have been talking about?

Maybe it was the cute cabbie with the soulful brown eyes and
the knee-weakening Scottish accent who had dropped her off at the rental office
in town. Perhaps he had made his way up to the cabin to see how she was getting
on.

Heat rushed to her cheeks just as a shiver of need slithered
down her thighs. She shook her head to dislodge the wayward daydream and sighed
in annoyance. This was just great—horny and alone in the middle of the woods on
her non-honeymoon.

Awesome.

No. Men were off-limits right now despite her sister’s
urgings to jump whatever tasty morsel of Scottish man-hunk caught her attention
on this trip. She needed to assert her independence and find her confidence.
What she needed now was an adventure, not a man.