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| The Bedeviled Heart
| | Carmen Caine
| Scotland, 1479
Cameron Malcolm Stewart, Earl of Lennox, had made his peace with destiny. It was not his fate to love as other men.
Each of his politically arranged marriages had ended in disaster. And though he had never touched a one of his wives, he had come to believe that sharing his name would consign a woman to an early grave.
So, on the sunny spring day Cameron encounters a delightfully devious, bright-eyed lass selling charmed stones in one of Stirling's alehouses, he tosses her a shilling, thinking only to steal a kiss. But it is a kiss that will change his life forever.
To care for her ailing father, the precocious Kate Ferguson has resorted to swindling the drunkards of Stirling. But a chance meeting with a handsome and seductively mysterious outlaw named Cameron ends with a kiss that changes the course of her destiny.
But as dark times descend upon Scotland, Kate is inadvertently caught in a deadly web of court intrigue spun by the royal favorite, Thomas Cochrane. And as King James III falls prey to his fear of the Black Arts, accusations of witchcraft and treachery abound.
The fate of Scotland hangs in the balance, and while Cameron vows to defy destiny itself to hold Kate forever in his arms, he must unravel the plots of nobles and commoners alike to protect the country that he loves.
From the Author
Historical Note
Cameron and Kate never existed, but the historical events in the book did take place.
"The Bedeviled Heart" touches upon the true and fascinating story of Thomas ( Robert ) Cochrane, King James III, and his brothers. In some ways, King James III of Scotland was a man born before his time, more a patron of the arts than a warrior. But it was his habit of exalting low-born favorites, among them the architect Cochrane, combined with his fascination for the Black Arts that brought about some of the first documented witchcraft trials in Scotland's history and ultimately his death in an uprising led by his son.
"The Bedeviled Heart" begins the departure in historical flavor from that of "The Kindling Heart", with "The Bedeviled Heart" being the first book in this series to cover the significant events of 1479. And as these events took ten years to come to a resolution, this fascinating backdrop will be continued throughout the remainder of the books in this series: "The Daring Heart" and "The Loyal Heart".
And while my goal is to weave history throughout these stories in an effort to make them all the more entertaining, these books will always be romances first and historical second. I will primarily focus on the human relationships between all of the characters in the entire four book storyline.
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