The Dark Highlander
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Praise for Karen Marie Moning
First Prologue
Second Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Quotes
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Quote
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Sources
Dear Reader
About the Author
Dell Books by KAREN MARIE MONING
Copyright Page
This one is for the women
who made it possible through their extraordinary encouragement, support, and patience:
Deidre Knight, Wendy McCurdy,
and Nita Taublib—thank you!
Time is the coin of your life.
It is the only coin you have,
and only you can determine how it will be spent,
Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
—CARL SANDBURG
Praise for Karen Marie Moning’s
KISS OF THE HIGHLANDER
“Moning’s snappy prose, quick wit, and charismatic characters will enchant.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Moning is quickly building a reputation for writing poignant time travels with memorable characters. This may be the first book I’ve read by her, but it certainly won’t be my last. She delivers compelling stories with passionate characters readers will find enchanting.”
—The Oakland Press
“RITA award–winning romance author Karen Marie Moning pens another contender for that coveted award. Kiss of the Highlander belongs on everyone’s list of best novels of the year.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“Kiss of the Highlander IS WONDERFUL. . . . Her storytelling skills are impressive, her voice and pacing dynamic, and her plot as tight as a cask of good Scotch whisky.”
—The Contra Costa Times
“If you enjoy a brisk-paced book, an ingenious plot, good humor, and erotic love scenes, then you won’t want to miss Kiss of the Highlander.”
—Romance Fiction Forum
“Kiss of the Highlander is a showstopper.”
—Rendezvous
FIRST PROLOGUE
In a place difficult for humans to find, a man, of sorts—it amused him to go by the name of Adam Black among mortals—approached a silk-canopied dais and knelt before his queen.
“My queen, The Compact is broken.”
Aoibheal, queen of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, was silent for a long time. When finally she turned to her consort, her voice dripped ice. “Summon the council.”
SECOND PROLOGUE
Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, there settled in Ireland a race called the Tuatha Dé Danaan who, over time, became known as the True Race, or the Fairy.
An advanced civilization from a faraway world, the Tuatha Dé Danaan educated some of the more promising humans they encountered in Druid ways. For a time, man and fairy shared the earth in peace, but sadly, bitter dissension arose between them, and the Tuatha Dé Danaan decided to move on. Legend claims they were driven “under the hills” into “fairy mounds.” The truth is they never left our world, but hold their fantastic court in places difficult for humans to find.