Captured by the Highlander-Julianne MacLean

Captured by the Highlander
Julianne MacLean
St. Martin’s, Mar 1 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780312365318

In 1716 Duncan "The Butcher of the Highlands" MacLean seeks to kill British Lieutenant Colonel Richard Bennett for the vicious murder of his loved one. With his sawed-off Lachaber axe swinging, the Jacobite traitor charges into a bedroom at Fort William where he expects his enemy sleeps. Instead, he encounters Bennett’s betrothed Lady Amelia Templeton. She explains she is also the daughter of the late highly regarded revered English Colonel, the Duke of Winslowe.

MacLean alters his plan by abducting Amelia and taking her into the Highlands. On their trek accompanied by his men, she sees how kind her captor is to everyone and begins to wonder about her fiancé. However, she escapes when she hits Duncan in the head with a rock. He comes to rescue her from intoxicated British soldiers who plan to rape her. However, his rescue leaves him caught by the British.

Captured by the Highlander is a terrific Georgian romance starring a strong lead couple in which the Butcher learns rather quickly that when it comes to capturing a feisty female, he is the prisoner of her heart. The story line is driven by the triangle as the intelligent heroine revises her opinions of the two men in her life; the Butcher proves kind and caring killing only out of safety for his people while the Lieutenant kills as a big game hunter. Although some tension is abated by Bennett’s prejudice that the Scottish are wild beasts to hunt down, readers will appreciate the changing relationship between Duncan and Amelia, as the heart of the matter is the Highlander is captured by the late English officer’s daughter.

Harriet Klausner