Lady with the Devil's Scar

Lady with the Devil's Scar
Sophia James

BEHIND THE ENEMY’S WALLS Badly disfigured Lady Isobel Dalceann has fought fiercely to defend her Keep, with little thought for her safety. Why, then, has she let a stranger within her walls? Whilst he threatens danger, his battered body marked by war mirrors her own scars and tempts her to put her faith in him.Marc de Courtenay is a mercenary and a loner, although he is drawn to damaged, beautiful Isobel. But in taking him into her highly defended buttressed walls she has unwittingly given him secrets that will enable him to betray her. What would she do if she were ever to find out who he really is…?

Praise for Sophia James:

‘James weaves her spell, captivating readers

with wit and wisdom, and cleverly combining

humour and poignancy with a master’s touch

in this feel-good love story.’

—RT Book Reviews on HIGH SEAS TO HIGH SOCIETY

‘Putting a hero bent on revenge and the “perfect” lady

together is a recipe for conflict. Add the warmth of the

holiday season, delightful children, pride, passion and

a ruthless villain, and you have James’ heartwarming,

fast-paced holiday romance.’

—RT Book Reviews on MISTLETOE MAGIC

‘Award-winning author Sophia James

kicks off proceedings with

CHRISTMAS AT BELHAVEN CASTLE:

a gripping tale of second chances, forbidden attraction

and unexpected passion!’

—Cataromance on Gift-Wrapped Governess anthology

They had broken through and flooded into the castle just as she had sat down for a rest. She had not had the time to gather her gloves or headgear but had been caught in the flight downstairs, where she now fought back against as many of the enemy as she could.

‘Nooo!’

A keening cry of fury rent the air around her, turning the hairs on her arms up into panic as her eyes caught sight of the one she had thought never to see again.

Marc!

Here.

In the mail of King David, sword tipped red.

A traitor and a betrayer. A man who would leave the Keep of Ceann Gronna with secrets in his head, to return a brace of months later and use them against those who had only been kind.

A payment of death for the gift of life. She could smell the sea spray on him as he jostled closer, his eyes cold with the knowledge of retribution and deceit.

About the Author

SOPHIA JAMES lives in Chelsea Bay on Auckland, New Zealand’s North Shore, with her husband, who is an artist, and three children. She spends her morning teaching adults English at the local Migrant School and writes in the afternoon. Sophia has a degree in English and History from Auckland University, and believes her love of writing was formed reading Georgette Heyer with her twin sister at her grandmother’s house.

Previous novels by the same author:

FALLEN ANGEL

ASHBLANE’S LADY

HIGH SEAS TO HIGH SOCIETY

MASQUERADING MISTRESS

KNIGHT OF GRACE

(published as The Border Lord in North America) MISTLETOE MAGIC (part of Christmas Betrothals) ONE UNASHAMED NIGHT ONE ILLICIT NIGHT CHRISTMAS AT BELHAVEN CASTLE (part of Gift-Wrapped Governess anthology)

Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

Lady with

the Devil’s Scar

Sophia James

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

For the Chelsea Bay Book Club … my group of warrior women.

Chapter One

1346—Fife Ness, Scotland

Isobel Dalceann saw the shapes from the beach, beyond the waves, turning in the current, dark against silver. Eight or more of them, lost in the grey swell of stormtide as mist swallowed outline.

‘There,’ she shouted to the two men beside her. ‘Two hundred yards out.’

The Heads yielded an odd wreck of a boat sometimes or the carcase of a sea creature long since dead … but this? Dusk spread from the west, burnishing lead with a blushed quiet pink and changing something that was not known into something that was.

‘People!’ Ian voiced the knowledge first. Not wood or fish or the trunk of a tree that had slipped into the brine somewhere near Dundee before travelling south in the cold currents, but people. People who would drown unless she helped them; she had always been a strong swimmer.

Stripping off brogans and tunic, she removed the dirk held by straps against her ankle and ran.