A Highland conquest

A HIGHLAND CONQUEST
BY
JEANNIE MACHIN
PUBLISHED BY ROBERT HALE LONDON
ISBN 978-0-7090-8658-1.
It is the summer of 1819 and American born Lauren Maitland, is visiting her English cousins in London. Lauren was not a willing visitor to England, as her American sweetheart Jonathon Ryder, an officer on the USS Chesapeake had died at the hands of the English, in the American War of Independence, fought some six years before.


Lauren had never forgiven the English for her loss, but because she had inherited a vast fortune from the English branch of their family, her Father thought it only right that she should meet her cousins and other members of the family. So she is staying with her cousin Hester and her husband Alexander Kingston and enjoying it more than she had anticipated, which was making her feel somewhat of a traitor to her lost love.


Lauren,green-eyed, with tumbling ash blond curls was very beautiful but did not realize what a stir she was causing with the young gentlemen of the ton. She found she had many admirers, not all of which also coveted her fortune. But no one touched her heart as a young Scottish lord, Rory Ardmore; the Earl of Glenvane, did when she was introduced to him. He was a devastatingly handsome man who rarely visited London, but for some reason unbeknown to Hester, seemed to have a low opinion of her fellow countrymen.


He had been a particularly good friend of her cousin’s husband when they were both on the town as young men. Therefore when the Kingston’s were invited to his Castle in Scotland to celebrate his young sister’s birthday, Lauren was also invited.


It was a long journey to Scotland and they stopped overnight night at several different hostelries. At the last one of these Inn’s , Lauren noticed that part of a coach had been covered so that the coat of arms was hidden from view, this intrigued her and she could not stop herself from peeping at the coach before she went into the Inn. She was sure it was a secret assignation of lovers, and smiled to herself if someone was playing her husband false it was not her affair. She did not speak to her cousin about what she has seen, or what she believed was happening. But when she heard an urgent knocking on a door close by, she opened her own door quietly and saw a young man sliding into a room near hers, she knew she was right, catching sight of a very beautiful young woman as the door opened she wondered who the young lovers were.


Eventually they arrived at Lord Glenvane’s castle and were shown their rooms, which were luxurious and comfortable. That evening Lauren was to meet Lord Glenvane’s younger brother and recognize him as the young lover from the Inn.
She was also to meet the woman who was part of Lord Glenvane’s life and realize that in her, she had met an enemy.


Many dramas were to unfold during Lauren’s stay in the dashing Lord’s castle. A Castle which Lauren found enchanting and exciting.


She realized that she had fallen madly in love with the Lord but didn’t think that he would ever look at her with his beautiful Mistress at his side, could she be wrong?


There is a lot more intrigue in this story, which unfolds gradually through the pages of this book; it is a really good read for lovers of this genre. I award this book 4.5 red Roses AS