If you've read Vanessa Kelly's The Highlander's Princess Bride (The Improper Princesses - Book 3) and/or The Highlander Who Protected Me (Clan Kendrick - Book 1), you're probably as excited as I am for the October 29th release of Logan Kendrick's book: The Highlander's Christmas Bride. Well, does Vanessa Kelly have a treat for you! Today, she's sharing an excerpt from Logan and Donella's book and giving a print advance review copy of The Highlander's Christmas Bride to one of you...a full two months before publication!
The Highlander's Christmas Bride
by Vanessa Kelly
Clan Kendrick - Book 2
Publisher: Zebra
Release Date: October 29, 2019
In bestselling author Vanessa Kelly’s irresistible Clan Kendrick series, Christmas in the Highlands means family, celebration—and for one brother, the beginning of a passionate adventure . . .
Being thrown over by the man she expected to marry was humiliating enough. Now that Donella Haddon, grandniece of the Earl of Riddick, has also proven a failure as a nun, she has no choice but to return to her family’s estate. The brawny Highlander sent to escort her is brash, handsome, and the only thing standing between Donella and a gang of would-be kidnappers. But the scandal in her past can’t be so easily outrun . . .
Wealthy widower Logan Kendrick was expecting to meet a plain, pious spinster—not a gorgeous, sharp-tongued lass who can hold her own in any ambush. Though she’s known as the Flower of Clan Graham, Donella is no shrinking violet. In fact, she might be the perfect woman to bring happiness back to his lonely little son’s life, just in time for Christmas. But first he must protect her from ugly gossip and a mysterious threat—and convince her that their wild, unexpected desire is heaven sent.
Set-up: Donella
Haddon has spent the last three years in a convent in a remote corner of
Scotland. But the good sisters have decided she’s not suited to life as a nun.
Much to her chagrin, Donella has been asked to leave. Logan Kendrick, widower,
wealthy businessman, and friend to Donella’s family, agrees to provide her an
escort home to Blairgal Castle.
Once on the road, however, masked men try to abduct Donella.
Thanks to Logan, the plot fails, but he and Donella are forced to flee. In
disguise and with Donella masquerading as Logan’s little brother, they take
refuge at a small inn. When the mysterious plotters track them down, they prepare
to escape once again.
PS. Some of my readers might recognize Donella from an
earlier book, HOW TO MARRY A ROYAL
HIGHLANDER (Renegade Royals 4). J
**
Excerpt
The Highlander's Christmas Bride
Donella stomped
her foot down into her boot and straightened. “So, what do we do?”
“Since we can’t
go waltzing out the front door, I’m off to do a little more skulking to see if
we can make it out through the back. If not, we’ll have to use the window to
make our escape.”
She regarded his
proposed exit with a dubious eye. “Are you sure you’ll fit? You are rather
large.”
“I’m aware of
that.” It would appear that large men were not her type, which he found rather
irritating.
She was a nun. She doesn’t have a type.
“I’ll manage it,”
he added, “but I would prefer the back door.”
“How are we going
to get to our horse?”
“We’re not.”
Her eyebrows shot
up. “We’re walking?”
“Yes. We’re going
up into the hills.”
“But—”
“Donella, we can
discuss the plan once we get out of here, all right?”
Her lips thinned,
but then she gave a terse nod. “What do you want me to do?”
“I suggest you
take the chance to use the chamber pot, since we’ll be leaving as soon as I
return.”
She winced. “I
must say this is turning out to be the most embarrassing episode of my entire
life.”
He flashed a
smile as he headed to the door. “Chin up, lass. Just think of it as a grand
adventure.”
“I hate
adventures,” she muttered.
He slipped out
into the hall. For a woman who hated adventures, she’d done well, displaying
both strength and character. Most girls of her class would have succumbed to
hysterics long ago. And though she had a tendency to argue, she’d followed his
orders when it counted.
Logan had the
impression from her family that Donella was a biddable, even shy woman who
retreated into the background. Yet he’d found her quite the opposite, which
probably accounted for her dismissal from the nunnery. Donella might not be the
sort of girl to flirt or talk the ears off a man, but biddable or shy? Not a
chance.
He’d only known
her for a few days, but there seemed to be more to Donella than her family realized.
The inn was
stirring. Dishes clattered in the taproom and footsteps thumped on the floor
above. The entrance hall was empty, but that meant Hamish was likely still out
gabbing with the mysterious riders. If those men had a particle of brains, they
would soon deduce that something was off about Mr. MacDonald and his strange
little brother.
Logan risked a
careful look out the window. A stable boy washed down the cobblestones, but
otherwise the yard appeared deserted. But that did them no good since they
needed to head up into the hills, not back on the road.
Retreating, he
paused to leave some coin on the desk, then quickly made his way back down the
hall to the door at the end of the wing. He’d just cracked it open when he
heard a shout from the direction of the stables. Feet pounded across the
cobblestones, followed by more shouting and a call to search the inn.
Dammit to hell.
Under normal
circumstances, he’d have no qualms about confronting the blighters but wouldn’t
take any chances with Donella’s safety. He had to get her out of harm’s way as
quickly as possible.
Moments later, he
was back in the room. Donella was fully dressed and folding up a small bundle
into a makeshift sack.
“I thought we
might be able to use the blanket and extra candles,” she explained.
“Good thinking.”
He shot the bolt across the door.
“I see it’s the
window.”
“Aye.”
Donella followed
him to the window. Logan slung his kit over his shoulder and yanked back the
shutter, then pushed the latticed window open.
“I hope you made
use of the chamber pot,” he said as he hoisted her onto the sill.
She swung her
legs over. “If you mention that one more time, I will clobber you.”
The drop to the
ground was a little high for his liking. “Careful, now. We don’t want you—”
Donella kicked
off the sill, landing in a neat crouch before looking up at him. “You were
saying, sir?”
He snorted and
dropped his kit and her bundle to the ground. When he started to climb through
the opening, he discovered it was quite
a tight fight.
“Don’t get
stuck,” she warned.
As if he’d let
that happen.
Logan pulled back
and stripped off his greatcoat, tossing it down to her. Then he grabbed the top
of the window frame and pulled himself up, then swung through in one go. He
managed to tear a sleeve on the way down, but otherwise was unscathed.
Donella blinked
at him. “That was quite impressive.”
“I might say the
same about you, lass.”
Her smile was
shy. “Thank you. I was rather athletic as a young girl.” The smile faded. “For
a while, anyway.”
There was a story
there, and he found himself wanting to hear it. For now, he had other things to
worry about, like getting their arses out of harm’s way.
He shrugged back
into his greatcoat. “Athletic is good right now.”
Donella had
already slung her bundle over her shoulder, so he grabbed his kit and guided
her toward a farmer’s field behind the inn. They dodged through a kitchen
garden, having to crouch at one point below a low hedge when they heard some
more shouting, but they were able to skulk away without incident.
A few hedgerows
and a field of oats later, they were safely away. Repeated glances over his
shoulder told Logan that no one had yet thought to check behind the inn.
Miracle of
miracles, they’d pulled it off. Now, all they had was a stiff day’s climb up to
a crofter’s cottage. There he hoped they would find shelter and a hopefully
not-too-long and not-too-cold wait for rescue. He trusted that Davey and Foster
had gotten through with his message to Lord Riddick. If not, he would have to
devise another plan to get Donella home.
They splashed
through a little creek that separated the field from the first set of
foothills. Logan glanced at Donella, who seemed unperturbed by their narrow
escape.
“Ready for a
climb, lass?”
She shot him a
wry glance. ”’I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.’”
Then she set off
briskly up the narrow track, leaving him to follow in her footsteps.
**
Have you read Vanessa Kelly? Do you have a favorite book or series?
I love a good unsuitable nun story. Do you have any favorites?
One randomly chosen person who comments before 11:00 PM, August 27, will receive a print ARC (advance review copy) of The Highlander's Christmas Bride. (U.S. addresses only)
