“I am bought and paid for. What happens next?”
“I continue to visit your bed or you mine until you bear me at least one son—though more would be better. Then you can go back to your family if you’d like.”
Jocelyn clenched her teeth against his words. Never had she felt so inconsequential before. Yes, she’d asked him for candour, but this brutal assessment was more than she’d expected or deserved.
With pain still tightening around her heart and soul, she lashed out.
“Did you make the same offer to your first wife?”
He reached her in the blink of an eye, his hands on either side of her face and his body against hers. His gaze burned into hers and a fury she’d never seen before blazed within his eyes. But it was his voice, almost a whisper, that struck the deepest fear.
“Do not speak on a subject about which you know nothing.” He leaned in closer, his breath hot against her cheek. “Do not say her name to me or anyone else here. Do not even refer to her in your words.”
He released her and she stumbled. Her legs would not hold her steady and her knees shook. Jocelyn fell before him.
She had dared the Beast and would not live to tell of it.
Praise fo r
Terri Brisbin
‘A welcome new voice in romance…
you won’t want to miss.’
—Bestselling author Susan Wiggs
THE DUMONT BRIDE ‘Rich in its Medieval setting… Terri Brisbin has written an excellent tale that will keep you warm on a winter’s night.’ —Affaire de Coeur
THE NORMAN’S BRIDE ‘…a quick-paced story with engaging characters and a tender love story.’ —Romantic Times BOOKreviews
THE COUNTESS BRIDE ‘Wonderful Wind-up For A Terrific Medieval Trilogy… Terri Brisbin began this wonderful trilogy with THE DUMONT BRIDE, trumped herself with THE NORMAN’S BRIDE and ends it with a bang withTHE COUNTESS BRIDE.’ —The Best Reviews
Terri Brisbin is wife to one, mother of three, and dental hygienist to hundreds when not living the life of a glamorous romance author. She was born, raised and is still living in the southern New Jersey suburbs. Terri’s love of history led her to write time-travel romances and historical romances set in Scotland and England. Readers are invited to visit her website for more information at www.terribrisbin.com, or contact her at PO Box 41, Berlin, NJ 08009-0041, USA.
Recent novels by the same author:
LOVE AT FIRST STEP
(short story in The Christmas Visit) THE DUMONT BRIDE THE NORMAN’S BRIDE THE COUNTESS BRIDE THE EARL’S SECRET
TAMING THE HIGHLANDER
Terri Brisbin
MILLS & BOON
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This book is dedicated to the romance readers’ groups who support the genre and romance authors by buying and reading romances every month of every year. And most especially to my ‘home’ groups—the Romance Readers at Borders in East Brunswick, NJ, the Treasured Hearts at the Barnes & Noble store in Wilmington, DE, and the Romantiques at the Borders store in Marlton, NJ. Thanks to all of you for your warm welcomes and enthusiasm!
Prologue
Scotland, 1352
He knew his wife was dead when her body hit the fifth step below him with a sickening thud. Connor MacLerie watched as the awareness and acceptance of her fate was replaced in her eyes by the dull glaze of death. Kenna never screamed as her body fell, and now all he heard was the bone-breaking thump as she landed at the bottom of the tall stairway of stone steps.
She may not have made a sound, but he did—roaring out his fury in a burst that brought family and servants from the great hall. They gathered below him, staring and pointing, already certain of the way things had happened here since undoubtedly some had heard the argument from the beginning. Connor closed his eyes for a moment and then he turned and walked away.
And, in that moment when his wife died, the Beast was born. His reputation spread through the Highlands—his wife’s last words pleading for his pardon and his refusal to attend her burial only added to the tales of his cruelty. Mothers feared for their daughters, fathers wondered about the rumors and maidens from all the neighboring clans prayed nightly that they would never be part of any treaty or bargain that placed them at his questionable mercy.
Less than a year after his first wife’s death, Connor took over the high chair upon his father’s passing, becoming laird of the clan MacLerie. A bride was now a necessity. And so the Beast prowled the Highlands searching for a mate.
Chapter One
Three Years Later
“Is there no other way then?”
She fought not to let the trembling show in her voice. Jocelyn clenched her hands together tightly and pressed her nails into her skin to keep herself from fainting at the news.
“Nay, lass. He specifically asked for you. ’Tis the only way to save yer brother’s life.”
Her father would not meet her gaze now. ’Twas over. The Beast had made his wishes known and since refusal to agree to his demands was impossible for her clan, she would be sacrificed to save another.
“Mayhap, he will fill ye quickly with a son,” her mother whispered from her sickbed. Turning to face her, Jocelyn felt the blood drain from her face as she realized the result of this agreement would give her, body and soul, to a man whose physical desires and cruelty was rumored throughout the Highlands. “If ye give him the son he craves, he may be merciful to ye.”
She fought to maintain some sense of calm, but the soft sobs that followed her mother’s words made it impossible. The tremors shook her and she feared fainting, something she swore she would not do in front of the MacLerie’s emissary. Dragging in a deep breath, she turned back to her father and his councillors.
“You do not need my consent for this, Father, so do as you must.”
Nodding to him and the MacLerie’s man, she drew herself up as straight as she could and walked slowly from the room. The urge to run and hide almost overwhelmed her