New York Times best-selling author Hannah Howell is a master of Scottish historical romance. In Highland Hero, she shares four of her finest short stories featuring heroes as wild and captivating as the Highlands themselves.

Storm Eldon was first caught up in the war between England and Scotland as a young girl, when she and her family were held hostage by their sworn enemies, the MacLagans. Years later, Storm finds herself trapped in the clutches of her Scottish adversaries once again. Now she must fight to preserve her loyalties, guard her virtue, and resist the charms of Tavis MacLagan, her handsome Highland captor....

Annabel was about to take the veil to become a nun, when her mother suddenly arrived at the abbey to take her home...so that she can marry the Scottish laird who is betrothed to her runaway sister! She knows nothing about being a wife, nothing about how to run a household, and definitely nothing about the marriage bed. From the moment Ross MacKay sets eyes on Annabel, he is taken with his shy, sweet bride...and the fact that she's blessed with lush curves only makes him utter his own prayers of thanks. But when an enemy endangers her life, he'll move the Highlands themselves to save her.

On the eve of her wedding to the heir of Saiturn Manor, the stunningly beautiful Gytha is shocked to learn that her betrothed, a man she barely knew, is dead. Now she must marry the new heir, Thayer Saiturn, a battle-hardened knight known as the Red Devil.... With a face scarred in battle and a heart broken in love, Thayer has no interest in marriage. But not even the Red Devil can break the promise his foster-father made years ago and soon finds himself married to a woman whose exquisite beauty and sweet innocence intrigue him.

For Chloe Wherlocke, it all begins with a vision - a glimpse into the future that foretells a terrible plot against Lord Julian Kenwood and his newborn son. Chloe's psychic gift allows her to save the child from certain death, but the earl remains in grave peril.... Julian Kenwood knows someone is trying to kill him, and he suspects his scheming wife and her lover are behind the plot. But Julian is shocked when Chloe, a captivating, dark-haired stranger, warns him that sinister forces are indeed at hand - and exposes a devastating secret that changes his life forever....

Cathal MacNachton and Connall MacAdie are cousins bound by far more than blood ties and the rugged Highland landscape their clan calls home. The ancient curse of their ancestry has fated them to live by night with an unquenchable thirst that neither can tame. The only thing that can save their souls is marriage to Outsiders - mortals whose untainted blood will weaken the curse in their children and break the chains of fear that have made their clan a breed apart.

Marian Fletcher Blackley, Duchess of Endsmere, is on the run from the English Crown for killing her abusive husband...no matter that it was self-defense. She has only one safe place to go - the MacKinlay clan in Scotland, where her sister is the laird's wife.

As wild as the rugged north country where she was raised, Saxan Honey Todd has sworn to avenge the murder of her twin brother. Recklessly, she gallops across the English countryside in pursuit of the man she believes to be his murderer: Botolf, Earl of Regenford. As hard and unyielding as the armor he wears in battle, Botolf is irresistibly drawn to the impetuous beauty who has come to wage war with him. Saxan stirs his passion to the point of madness, but to love her would be madness indeed.

Clever and bold, Ella Sutherland has won the right to call herself chief of her clan and struggles to hold onto the chiefdom against those who doubt a woman’s rule. When she’s captured by the darkly handsome Sinclair chief, she chooses death over wedding him and giving up her clan to their long-time enemy. For she has a secret, an oath she took years ago to protect and keep the clan seat for a great ruler to come. Cain refuses to let his brother, Death, honor Ella’s choice with an execution. He’s never before met a woman so brave and passionate.

A lass begging to marry him might top the list of "oddest things to happen," but Chief Adam Macquarie is desperate. And no matter how much he hates to do it, he's not above lying to get what he wants. Starting with the fact that he just omitted the truth about the situation back at his home - where there are no women and only a handful of other people. Because he has a secret need for a wife himself, one she won't be too happy about when she finds out.

On the run from a dangerous man, Ava Sutton flees to the Isle of Mull off the coast of Scotland. Masquerading as a titled, English lady, Ava must convince the cynical and darkly handsome chief of the Macleans of Aros to wed her before the devil tracks her down. Tor Maclean, the new chief of Aros Castle, has sworn off marriage after his first wife tricked him into it. Despite his efforts to scare away the Englishwoman, his father arranged for him to wed, Tor is drawn to her fire, courage, and beauty.

After years of fighting abroad, Ian MacDonald comes home to find his clan in peril. To save his kin, he must right the wrongs from his past... and claim the bride he's long resisted. As a young lass, Sìleas depended on Ian to play her knight in shining armor. Five years later, Sìleas has grown from an awkward girl into an independent beauty who knows she deserves better than the reluctant husband who preferred war to his wife. Now this devilishly handsome Highlander is finally falling in love. He wants Sìleas - and he won't take no for an answer....

Lady Eve Sotherby dreams of escaping her horrid life in England, yet she has nowhere to run. So when she spies a posting for a companion in the Highlands, she seizes the chance to disappear. She’s heard tales about the barbaric Highlanders, of course, but no one can be worse than the beast she once foolishly agreed to wed. And never mind that she doesn’t meet any of the requirements for the position: must have no family, must love the cold, and must know the healing arts.

Forced into a betrothal to a man she hates, her only way out is to escape to a convent. Laird Alexander Grant is honor bound to rescue Maddie after seeing the bruises on her face. What he doesn't realize is that once he holds the beaten lass in his arms, his heart will never be the same. He vows revenge for the abuse she was forced to endure and yearns to make the sweet woman with an iron will his, but can he help her fight the demons in her mind left behind by her abusers' horrid treatment?

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and no one is more desperate than Highlander Alasdair MacRae. His clan is on the verge of disaster thanks to continuous raids from the lying, thieving, murdering MacKenzies. Their latest strike has left Alasdair’s family on the precipice of starvation, and his brother badly wounded. The time has come to hit back, and what better blow to deliver than to kidnap his enemy’s daughter and use her to negotiate much-needed peace.

New York Times best-selling author Hannah Howell is a master of Scottish historical romance. In Highland Hero, she shares four of her finest short stories featuring heroes as wild and captivating as the Highlands themselves.

The morn of her wedding, Arabella Cameron is filled with dread. But if marrying a man she doesn't love will end the feud between the Cameron and Mackintosh clans, she will do her duty. That is until outlaw Brodie Mackintosh arrives in her bedchamber and steals her away to the mountains! Brodie knows Arabella has every reason to hate him, but a forbidden kiss soon makes these sworn enemies question everything. And when Arabella's intended reclaims her, Brodie must fight with all his strength to make her his once more!

Eveline Armstrong is fiercely loved and protected by her powerful clan, but outsiders consider her "touched." Beautiful, fey, with a level, intent gaze, she doesn't speak. No one, not even her family, knows that she cannot hear. Content with her life of seclusion, Eveline has taught herself to read lips and allows the outside world to view her as daft. But when an arranged marriage into a rival clan makes Graeme Montgomery her husband, Eveline accepts her duty -unprepared for the delights to come.

Though Honora Tannach came of age amid the misty moors of the Scottish highlands, where warring clans battled to the death for the future of their wild land, nothing frightens her so much as a lifetime trapped in the castle of her cruel stepfather. She is thrilled when a marriage is arranged to the son of a Scottish laird...until her betrothed is revealed to be Cavan Sinclare. Though the savage warrior once saved her life, Honora knows no one can tame the heart of such a brute, no matter now finely chiseled his features or how enticing his eyes...

They call him the Devil.... He is the most notorious laird of Scotland: fierce, cold, deadly...and maybe even worse. Yet Evelinde has just agreed to wed him. Anything, she thinks, is better than her cruel stepmother. Though Evelinde should be wary of the rumors, she can't help but be drawn to this warrior...for the Devil of the Highlands inspires a heat within her that is unlike anything she has ever known.

Miss Marianne Winchilsea is running for her life from those whom she believes have attempted to kill the king. Forced to disguise herself, she trusts no one - especially not Garett Lockwood, the Earl of Falkham, who usurped her family home and who seems to be her most dangerous enemy. And what Garett sees behind her masquerade is a beautiful half gypsy enrobed in mystery, deception, and burning secrets. A woman he should avoid at all costs. In a world where treachery and betrayal reign, a sweet seduction rules their hearts.

Best-selling author Monica McCarty transports listeners to the 14th-century Scottish highlands in this dazzling novel. Warrior Tor MacLeod is picked by Robert the Bruce to lead the fight against English rule. Despite Tor’s rigid disposition and devotion to his craft, his new bride is determined to warm his heart.

In feudal England, Elizabeth Montwright barely escaped the massacre that destroyed her family and exiled her from her ancestral castle. Bent on revenge, she rode again through the fortress gates, disguised as a healer...to seek aid from Geoffrey Berkley, the powerful baron who had routed the murderers.

After centuries of conflict, a peace treaty has finally been drawn between the warring Saxons and Norse—largely due to the wisdom and bravery of the legendary Viking leader Wolf Hakonson and the noble warrior Lord Hawk. Hawk and Wolf each married women from warring clans to unite the Saxons and Norse. But for all its blessings, the promise of peace will remain fragile—unless it can be sealed forever by a third and final marriage between these two proud clans.

Shaken from sleep during the night and bundled off to the Highlands by a burly Scot, Riona is at first terrified then livid. Hugh McCallum insists they were promised to each other as children to ensure peace between their clans. The stubborn laird refuses to believe he's kidnapped the wrong Catriona Duff. Instead he embarks on a campaign of slow-burning seduction....

All Highland warrior Gavin Patrick wants is to get back to his native Scotland. Before Gavin leaves the battlefield, he's given a final mission - escort Lady Marie Colette to her fiancé. Under no circumstances is he to lay hands on the beautiful heiress...no matter how desperate the temptation. Forced to pose as a married couple to escape from France, Gavin and Marie Colette find themselves thrown into peril...and each other's arms. As the danger mounts, so does forbidden passion.

A betrothal has been announced that will join together Britain's two most powerful families - a union of wealth and influence to rival even the King himself. However, not only does the ambitious King John oppose this wedding, but Milisant and Wulfric - the intended bride and groom - are equally unhappy with the arrangement. Two passionate, headstrong people, they resent being thrown together for purely dynastic reasons.

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn. Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart.

English knight Sir Adam Dayne is offered the ultimate prize by the earl who raised him: lordship of Langford castle. All he must do is accept a betrothal to the Scottish Marcher warden's beautiful daughter, a match made to keep peace at the tumultuous Anglo-Scottish border. Sir Adam relishes the prospect - until he meets the woman he is to wed. Lady Cora Maxwell hates everything English, including the self-assured new lord who has claimed her hand in marriage. When Adam proposes a unique challenge, Cora is forced to face her greatest fears.

Once, Abrielle's name was on the lips of every unwed nobleman in London as a proud exceptional lady coveted for her bearing, her breeding, her wit, and her beauty. But when her stepfather, respected for his courage and valor during the Crusades, is denied his rightful title and the wealth that accompanies it, Abrielle finds herself suddenly disgraced, no longer a suitable match for any proper gentleman.