"Exciting eighteenth century Scottish romance"

In 1740 Scotland, Tavish Graham finds the unconscious, almost naked, body of a beautiful woman. He knew with the cold fog coming that he did not have enough time to take the half drowned lass to the family castle. Instead he travels to the nearby Danegaeld Lodge, his grandfather's abode where currently his brother, James, the Earl of Monleigh and chief of Clan Graham, has gone to for some rest.

The French lass Sophie d'Alembert fears her strange surroundings as much as she is frightened of her host. She hides from James her true identity as the granddaughter of French King Louis XIV and that she is a pawn being used to marry the abominable English Duke of Rockingham. As James and Sophie become acquainted, they fall in love though he believes she hides much of the truth from him and she feels guilty for doing so. Although she soon trusts him, Sophie fails to reveal who she is before James learns the identity of her grandfather. Now he does not trust the woman he was willing to risk the wrath of two kings to keep at his side.

Eighteenth century Scottish romance readers will want to peruse THE HIGHLANDER, an exciting tale that never slows down from the moment Tavish finds a seemingly dead Sophie on the shore. Though the setting has been over used, the French lass provides freshness as her apparently more cultured society clashes with the rugged Highland lifestyle. James and Sophie are a delightful duo struggling between a growing love vs. duty and secrets, which means that fans will enjoy Elaine Coffman's latest historical.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 25, 2003

Summary

What's an honorable Scot to do when a beautiful woman washes ashore beneath the family castle?

Give her to his brother?

When Tavish Graham stumbles upon the nearly naked body of Sophie d'Alembert, he thinks she is dead. But it doesn't take him long to discover Sophie is very much alive and more woman than he can handle, so he leaves her with his brother, James, the Earl of Monleigh.

Beautiful, young, and French, Sophie finds herself in the wild, strange land of the Scots. Terrified and not willing to trust James, she fails to tell him that she is the granddaughter of Louis XIV-- and that she is fleeing a forced marriage to the hated English Duke of Rockingham.

Reluctantly, Sophie finds herself falling in love with the rugged highlander. And before she can reveal the truth of her past, James discovers her royal connection, and wonders what else she is keeping from him. Can James resist her, or will he defy the might of England and France for a lover as wild and passionate as himself?