Her Highland Destiny
Book One in the Destiny Series
By Annie Marshall

Iain stepped into the deep tub of steaming water and leaned back with a tired sigh as he reflected on the day’s events.  His body ached from trying to fend off the English.  But they had been outnumbered and Longshanks determined.

A storm was brewing outside.  Ominous really, when he thought about it.  Fitting that on the day Scotland lost Urquhart Castle, it would storm.

Iain’s heart was heavy, kenning he had failed.  Urquhart was his cousin’s keep and had been in the family for generations.  Now, the sadistic English king called it his.

And to complete this bleak day, Longshanks had ordered him to marry.  Marry!  Of all the absurd things to order!  He didn’t have the time to cater to a wife.  Not when Scotland needed him to defend her.

The more Iain thought about it, the more aggravated he became.  He tossed the cake of scented soap across the room.

A loud clap of thunder resonated outside the window and the room began to shake.  Iain grasped the side of the tub, bewildered at the commotion.  The thunder grew louder as he leaped to his feet sloshing water over the sides of the tub.  Lightning illuminated the room and Iain froze in fear.  Then from above, a rock the size of a human head fell into the tub further startling Iain and he looked up to find the ceiling fading away.  In fact, the floors above him also faded.  He was staring straight to the heavens!  Iain couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  Lightning streaked the sky as the room continued to quake. The winds engulfed the room and howled a deafening roar.  A gut wrenching cry wailed as Iain attempted to get out of the tub.  Then another object fell from the heavens, right on top of him knocking him back down into the tub, splashing water everywhere.

“What in the Almighty’s name!” he exclaimed as he stared from the form on top of him, to the heavens, and then back down to the form.

Then as swift as the storm began, it ended and all was quiet with the ceiling back in place.

The figure he now held in his arms was a woman; a very naked woman.  Her body was bruised and there were cuts all over her.  She wasn't moving and Iain wondered if she was even alive.  He slid her wet hair away from her face and locked frightened eyes with her as her body began to tremble.

"Help me," she whispered in a raspy voice then passed out.