Kilts & Kraken

by Cindy Spencer Pape

Overview

Magnus, Baron Findlay, longs to bring the wonders of the steam age to his remote island home, but his hands are full fighting the vicious kraken ravaging the coast. When he's swept to sea during battle and washes up on the shore of an isle in the Hebrides, he is near death.

Struggling to establish herself as one of the first female physicians in Edinburgh, Dr. Geneva MacKay is annoyed when The Order of the Round Table sends her north to care for an injured highlander. To heal him, Geneva escorts the handsome warrior home, just in time to defend the villagers from another onslaught.

As the attacks escalate and they work together to fight off the threat, neither Geneva nor Magnus can resist the overwhelming attraction between them. But as their relationship deepens, a new threat arises—from within the village itself...

37,000 words

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426893841
Publisher:	Carina Press
Publication date:	06/04/2012
Series:	The Gaslight Chronicles , #2
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
File size:	429 KB

About the Author

Cindy Spencer Pape firmly believes in happily-ever-after. Married for more than twenty-five years to her own, sometimes-kilted hero, she lives in southern Michigan with him and two grown sons, along with an ever-changing menagerie of pets. Award-winning author of more than 40 books, Cindy has been, among other things, a banker, a teacher, and an elected politician, but mostly an environmental educator, though now she is lucky enough to write full-time.

Read an Excerpt

Torkholm Island, the Hebrides, July 1858

"Magnus, look out!"

At the shout from his uncle, Magnus Findlay rolled sideways and slashed upward with his sword at the tentacle slamming onto the dock beside him. The sturdy wood gave way with a splintering crash and the tentacle, now spouting gouts of bluish blood, whipped sideways to wrap around Magnus's waist. The giant squid—its head easily twenty feet from end to end and the tentacles four times that—was the biggest they'd faced yet, in three or more weeks of random attacks from the monstrous creatures.

Someone beside him opened fire with a repeating rifle. Another fired the harpoon gun from a nearby fishing boat. The sounds of the steam-powered engines and gunfire mingled with the screams of the wounded and shattering of wood. Another chunk of the quay splintered as the beast whirled Magnus in its grip.

His sword, enchanted to stay in his hand and aim true, owned by a score of his ancestors, bit deep into the creature's head. The squid pulled Magnus away from its core, squeezing the breath from his lungs. Enraged and wounded, it dove deep, taking Magnus with it. He gave a silent scream before his head slammed on a rock and the world went black as well as wet.

Edinburgh, the following day

"Genny, I need you in the Hebrides."

"I'm busy, Papa." Dr. Geneva MacKay turned away from her father's imposing countenance to face her assistant. "Elspeth, go ahead and lock up, if you please. I'll see you on Monday."

"Yes, Doctor." Elspeth Robertson, a sturdy, middle-aged widow and Geneva's right hand, had already herded the last patient out the door. "Have a good night, Doctor. Sir Fergus." She bobbed a slight curtsey as she left the surgery.

Geneva finished checking her medical instruments, hung up her white coat and locked her medicine cabinet for the night. "You're welcome to come upstairs and join me for supper, Papa, but I'm not leaving Edinburgh. As you saw, my practice is—finally—thriving. I can't go haring off on a moment's notice to God-knows-where anymore. Find another doctor."

Sir Fergus MacKay's freckled face turned an alarming shade of purple, clashing with the auburn of his hair. "I can't. Both the Order's physicians are busy elsewhere."

"Why do you need me out on the islands, of all places? It isn't Connor, is it?" Business or no business, Geneva would drop everything for her younger brother, who had recently joined their father in the family business—that being the Order of the Round Table, the organization responsible for combating vampyres and other monsters throughout the kingdom.

"No. It isn't a Knight." Fergus, his face lined with exhaustion, dropped into a chair.

"Then there are plenty of physicians in Scotland, Papa. I've had enough trouble, being one of the first female doctors in Edinburgh. I can't compound that by vanishing every other week." She picked up a half-empty teacup from her desk and emptied it into the sink.

Fergus grimaced. "I know, lass. You've more than paid back the loan the Order gave you to set up your practice, so you've no obligation. 'Tis just—well—I'd take it as a personal favor if you'd see to this lad."