My next book is a Medieval set in Scotland in 1360 and its title is ‘Lady With The Devil’s Scar’
Lady Isobel Dalceann is fighting to save her keep from
being swallowed up by David the Second. She is a figure the bards
tell of all across Scotland, a witch they say who has repelled
three sieges upon her castle and a woman who dresses as a man.
Rescuing the hero from a shipwreck off the stormy waters of
Fife Ness she brings him home to tend to his wounds.
Isobel Dalceann came back to him as the sun fell low against the
window and she brought a mash of sorts with bread soaked in milk.
Marcus ate it as if it was his very last meal and felt stronger.
‘Thank you.’
Again. It seemed of late he had been indebted to this woman time
after time.
Waving away the word she countered with her own question. ‘Are
you one of David’s men?’
She had found the ring, he supposed. He should have tossed it when
he had the chance, but the piece held a value to him that was sentimental
and he had not wanted to.
‘Once I was,’ he replied.
‘And now?’
‘It has been a while since I was in his company.’
She moved back and he knew he had erred.
‘You knew him then, personally.’
The furrow on her brow deepened. Thinking. He could almost see
her brain turn.
‘My mother was from the House of Valois in Burgundy. David of Scotland
gave me the ring when he lived there.’
‘Under the protection of Philip the Sixth?’
So she knew her politics. He nodded.
‘You are a friend of kings?’ The words fell into the silence of
the room, the talk marking him off as...what?
When she breathed out heavily he saw she had not wanted this truth.
A simple soldier or sailor would have been so very much easier
to deal with. Still, in the face of all her assistance he found
it difficult to lie.
‘Many here at Ceann Gronna have already died under the guise of
David’s ambitions.’ Her voice was flat and hard.
‘And I can promise you that I should not wish to bring one other
person here harm.’
She swore again at that, a ripe curse that was better suited to
a man. The lad’s hose were tight against the rise of her bottom
and despite his sickness he felt his body react.
‘If I was braver I would slit your throat as surely as you wanted
to slit Ian’s.’
‘What stops you then?’
‘This,’ she answered and leant down into him, her mouth running
across his lips. Not gently either but with a full carnal want
that left him reeling. He felt her bite his bottom lip before her
tongue probed, felt the sharp slant of desire and the fierce pull
of lust. Felt her fingers on his face and throat and then on his
nipples pinching, the rush of hunger acute. When she had finished
she moved back, wiping the taste of him away with the top of her
uninjured hand.
‘There is not much to hinder the path of a woman taking a man.’
Her eyes went to the stiff hardness that was so very easily seen
through the thin linen cloth covering him.
‘Men hold to the premise of self-satisfaction far more than any
woman is likely to, you see. A small caress here, a whisper there,
the cradling of flesh between clever fingers...’
Jesus, Isobel Dalceann was a witch. Marcus looked
away because every single thing she said was true and because the
need to come right then and there before her was overriding.









