Lion's Lady

Praise for award-winning author Suzanne Barclay’s Sutherland SeriesPraiseLetter to ReaderTitle PageAbout the AuthorPrologueChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter NineteenEpilogueCopyright

Praise for award-winning author Suzanne Barclay’s Sutherland Series

LION’S LEGACY

“Suzanne Barclay certainly takes her place amongst the finest of Medieval writers...”

—Romantic Times

“Magical!”—the Literary Times

“...a most wonderful tale of love...”

—Old Book barn Gazette

LION OF THE NORTH

“Pure gold! Read a Barclay Medieval and you’re reading the best.”

—The Medieval chronicle

“...brimming with the atmosphere and drama of the times.”

—Affaire de Coeur

LION’S HEART

“...a special and unforgettable work. 5

—Affaire de Coeur

“...characters so compelling they will pull you into the story and not let go...5♥s.”

—Booklovers

“Again and again, Ms. Barclay proves that she is one

of the best authors today in historical romance!”

—The Literary Times

“...richly detailed, completely believable and

totally satisfying...”

—The Gannett News Service

“...page-turning adventure...seduces your

senses and lays siege to your heart.”

—Author Theresa Michaels

“A rare treasure!”

—Rendezvous

“...a great superstar.”

—Affaire de Coeur

“...a magician with words...”

—Romantic Times

“...pure magic...a glorious tapestry of love

and redemption.”

—Old Book Barn Gazette

Discover the magic.

Read Suzanne Barclay today!

Dear Reader,

If your mother didn’t tell you about Harlequin Historical, this Mother’s Day might be a good time to let her in on the secret. The gift of romance can enhance anyone’s life, and our May list promises to be a spectacular introduction. Award-winning author Suzanne Barclay returns this month with Lion’s Lady, the fourth title in her highly acclaimed SUTHERLAND SERIES. Intrigue, betrayal and passion abound in this medieval tale of a newly widowed noblewoman who travels to Blantyre Castle to secure her son’s inheritance and is shockingly reunited with the valiant warrior who is her child’s natural father.

A feisty young adventuress with dreams of the West heals the haunted soul of a handsome wagon train leader in Jeb Hunter’s Bride, the newest title from the versatile Ana Seymour. And in The Wilder Wedding, a compelling Victorian by Lyn Stone, a young heiress who believes she is dying proposes to a jaded but irresistible private investigator she’s only just met.

Rae Muir’s Twice a Bride is the second book of her captivating WEDDING TRAIL series about four friends who find love on the road to California. In this Western, a trail scout’s daughter marries a rugged hunter to fulfill her father’s dying wish—only her father doesn’t die....

Whatever your tastes in reading, you’ll be sure to find a romantic journey back to the past between the covers of a Harlequin Historical. Happy Mother’s Day!

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont- L2A 5X3

Lion’s Lady

Suzanne Barclay

SUZANNE BARCLAY has been an avid history buff all her life and an inveterate dreamer since she was very young. “There is no better way to combine the two than by writing historical romances,” she claims. “What other career allows you to journey back to the time when knights were bold and damsels distressed without leaving behind the comforts of central heating and indoor plumbing?” She and her husband of twenty-one years recently moved into a new house with a separate office where Suzanne can dream in blissful peace...when not indulging her passion for gourmet cooking or walking their two dogs, Max and Duffy.

Suzanne has prepared a comprehensive Sutherland family tree, detailing the marriages and progeny of all the Sutherlands, even those who did not star in their own stories. To receive a copy, send a large SASE to: Suzanne Barclay, P.O. Box 92054, Rochester, NY 14692.

Prologue

Highlands, July, 1384

He wasn’t coming.

Rowena MacBean closed her eyes, her head bowed by a pain so sharp it was physical. Her hand fell reflexively to her belly. Flat still, it was, but if old Meg was right about what she’d told Rowena this morn—and the midwife usually was about such matters—it would not be flat much longer.

Rowena was pregnant with Lion Sutherland’s baby.

The joy she’d felt on hearing the news had faded to fear and finally gnawing panic as the hours waned and Lion didn’t arrive. A shudder worked its way through her as she imagined the confrontation to come when she returned home.

“Fool,” her mother would cry. “What were ye thinking, carrying on with the likes of him? He’ll not wed ye, ye know. When he takes a wife, the heir to the high-and-mighty Sutherland clan will wed a lass as wealthy and noble as himself, not a lowly MacBean. And why should he, since ye’re willing to give it away free?”