Eva faces a serious problem. Her father has bartered her
off in marriage to a dude in a rival clan without her
consent. Not only does she have no interest in being a
part of that clan, but she has no interest in marriage.
Taking the only path she feels she has the power to
choose, Eva hightails it out of her family keep and
attempts to hide in the Scottish Highlands.
Unlucky for her, Rob, her betrothed, is pretty good at
tracking folks down and is pretty freaking motivated to
get to her. He needs a wife, was promised Eva, and sees
no real reason why there's a problem with that. He's not
really in the mood for marriage himself, but their lairds
decided the marriage was necessary and he's not one for
questioning authority. Luckily for us and Eva, Rob finds
her departure vaguely amusing.
As he finds her in short order and she lets him know
exactly what she thinks about him, the sparks fly. As
this is a Harlequin category, Terri Brisbin does not have
a whole lot of words to play with. Her story has to be
believable, enjoyable, and economical and she nails all
three. I think it takes an enormous amount of skill to be
able to pull of a good historical category, especially
since the big
players in the genre have double her word count to tell
their stories, and Brisbin does it well.
Eva's father is a douchecanoe, for the record, and is
using a pretty big secret of Eva's against her in how he
controls her life. When Rob sorts out Eva's secret, he
becomes her ally in freeing herself from her father. THE
HIGHLANDER'S RUNAWAY BRIDE made me chuckle and tear up and
root for Eva and Rob
in short order. Highly recommended for anyone looking for
a good Highland read.
When Eva MacKay learns her father has bartered her off to a
warrior from a neighboring clan, she has no choice but to
run away, taking her dark secrets with her. Freedom is now
within her grasp!
Dutiful highlander Rob Mackintosh tracks down his runaway
bride, only to be stunned by the fireworks that erupt
between them. For behind Eva's timid smile lies a headstrong
beauty, and Rob knows, no matter what, this marriage is
going to be full of surprises!