Da squeezed their joined hands tightly. “I approve of this union and welcome my new daughter into the clan.”

Kennan blinked, forcing himself not to shed a tear, but his throat choked up on his next words. “Thank you, Father.”

As the service proceeded, Kennan saw nothing but the kind, generous, and remarkable woman standing before him. She’d conquered the gravest of adversities and come out stronger and wiser than anyone he knew. And his father was right. Divana would be unmatchable as the next Lady Lochiel.

She smiled and whispered, “What are ye thinking?”

He inclined his lips to her ear. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

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Author’s Note

Thank you for joining me for The Highland Rogue. I’ve been wanting to write Kennan’s story for a long time, but because he’s been such a bad boy in the past, I first had to redeem him and show the man coming into his own in The Highland Earl, where Kennan had a supporting role. In fact, he has had supporting roles in The Highland Renegade and The Highland Chieftain as well.

I fashioned Kennan after John MacEwen Cameron, Eighteenth of Lochiel and Chief of Clan Cameron. He was the son of Sir Ewen Cameron, the Great Lochiel (who lived to the ripe age of ninety), though in fact John married Isabel Campbell of Lochnell. On that note, I must say that Divana’s character is completely fictional, however I did make mention of Isabel’s father, Laird Alexander Campbell of Ardslignish, in this story.

John MacEwen Cameron succeeded to the title of clan chief after the death of his long-lived father in 1719. The record shows John had three sons, Donald (the nineteenth chief), Archibald, and John. I took literary license in developing Achnacarry Castle for this book, because the structure presently standing in its place was built in 1802. Achnacarry is now considered the ancestral home of the chiefs of Clan Cameron, only five miles northwest of Fort William on the River Arkaig. My literary license was in describing the castle as having been built by generations of Cameron chiefs, when in fact the castle that would have existed at the time of this story was built around 1655 by Sir Ewen Cameron to take advantage of a strategic position between Loch Lochy and Loch Arkaig. Of note, Sir Ewen’s bard referred to Achnacarry as a “generous house of feasting.” The 1655 castle was destroyed by government troops after John (Kennan) fought with the Jacobites in the 1746 Battle of Culloden. The 1802 castle was built in the baronial style and can be seen today.

Another point of mention is Divana’s abandonment by her clan. Though there is no record of persons being abandoned on the isle of Hyskeir, I have read accounts of victims of pandemics being deserted and left to their own resources on uninhabited Hebridean isles, and such accounts gave me the idea for Divana’s circumstances.