Book: The Laird
Author: Grace Burrowes
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Historical Romance
He left his bride to go to war...
After years of soldiering, Michael Brodie returns to his Highland estate to find that the bride he left behind has become a stranger. Brenna is self-sufficient, competent, confident-and furious. Despite her anger at Michael's prolonged absence, Brenna has remained loyal to her husband, though Michael's people, and most especially the uncle who held the estate together for him, make it clear they expect Michael to set Brenna aside.
Though his most important battle will be for her heart.
Michael left Brenna when she needed him most, and then stayed away even after the war ended. Nonetheless, the young man who abandoned her has come home a wiser, more patient and honorable husband. Brenna is hurt, bewildered, and tired of fighting for the respect of those around her, but if she trusts Michael with the truths she'd been guarding, he'll have to choose between his wife and everything he holds dear.
Exclusive
Excerpt: The Laird by Grace Burrowes
In The Laird,
hero Michael Brodie, Baron of Strathdee, takes his baroness for a
stroll in the village as part of a campaign to heal the marital
wounds left by years of separation. The outing does not go as he has
planned, for Brenna, his estranged wife, has enemies who ensure she’s
regarded as poorly as possible—enemies she’s loathe to disclose
to Michael.
“I was trying to
woo you,” Michael said, and from his tone, Brenna suspected he
regarded the outing as a miserable failure, when the opposite was
true.
“And you have,”
Brenna said, pulling off a half boot. Every woman deserved to be
kissed in at least one churchyard, just as every woman deserved to be
wooed, and thank heavens, her husband grasped this.
Michael settled
beside her on the bed, took her half boot, scowled at the worn heel,
and set it aside. His arm came around Brenna’s shoulders, as heavy
and well fitted as an ox’s yoke.
“What happened in
the village, Brenna? I had all I could do not to dump my ale over the
heads of those vicious old biddies who snubbed you in the tavern.”
And wouldn’t
Brenna have enjoyed that sight—for about half a minute.
“I’m glad you
did not. They’re idle gossips, and hold me accountable for you
being gone so long.” And for their cousins emigrating, and for the
wool harvest being thin some years, and the winter early. Angus
Brodie was nothing, if not tireless.
Michael kissed her
temple, and brought a hand up to massage Brenna’s nape. “You’ve
put up with such gossip for years now, and it’s my fault.”
Though afternoon
sun poured through the window, fatigue hit Brenna like a wet plaid.
Fatigue of the body and of the spirit.
“That feels
lovely.” She kissed his cheek for good measure.
“I will get to
the bottom of this, Brenna.”
He probably would,
and then this happy little mutual wooing of a marriage would be
reduced to ashes. “Must you get to the bottom of it this minute?
It’s idle gossip, nothing more.”
Idle gossip, veiled
looks, subtle delays in service, and so much more that Michael, with
his soldier’s instincts, would grasp all too quickly. Desperation
seeped through Brenna’s fatigue and she cuddled closer to her
husband.
“Are you inclined
to nap with me, Husband, or will you natter on about a bunch of
pinch-penny Highlanders?”
Michael’s nose
pressed gently against Brenna’s ear as his vetiver scent wafted
into her awareness. “Do you want to nap with me, Brenna? In the
broad light of day?”
The sunshine was
soft, the bed beneath them was soft, and Michael’s tone was softer
still. His questions now were bent not on uncovering old, miserable
truths, but rather, on inviting Brenna to share a future with him, to
trust him as a wife trusts her husband on their wedding night.
Sorrow and… love
tangled up inside her. Love for the soldier who’d come home to her
when he might have wandered endlessly, love for the man who’d
announced his regard for her without any promise of reciprocity, love
for the husband who’d ruin everything with his protectiveness and
tenacity.
“I want to love
you,” Brenna said, skirting an outright declaration like the coward
she was. “It’s a beautiful day, and I want to make love with my
husband.”
A slow, wicked
smile lit Michael’s features, while Brenna borrowed joy against the
day when truth intruded like a blight on a marriage that should have
taken root years ago, and blossomed by now with many children, and
many shared memories.
“I want that too,
Brenna Maureen,” Michael said, tugging at the laces of his boots.
“I’ve wanted that forever.”
Based on Michael’s
expression, the trouble in the village, the rudeness in the tavern,
the entire universe, had left his awareness, save for his focus on
Brenna and what would happen in their bed in the next hour.
Someday, he might
look back on this hour and conclude Brenna had consummated their vows
to distract him from the answers he wanted, which was a pity, for
that wasn’t the entire truth—but it also was not wrong.
Author Biography:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish and Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.
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