Tilly Greene, author of scorching romances

On the surface Hamish Buchanan appears to have it all. He's handsome, successful, and because of the horror that surrounded his birth, possesses the love and respect of an entire nation. But underneath, where few are allowed, lurks a secret. Although well hidden, the furtiveness needed to keep others from discovering those things he’s held private, also kept him from committing himself to another as fully as he would’ve wanted.

Then, one evening while attending a formal charity event, everything changes. Hamish senses something big is happening inside him and doesn't know what it could be. Not liking how he was starting to feel out of control, he starts to list mentally what he does identify. Physically, he's unusually hot and his heart is racing as if he was running all out. Emotionally, he has no patience for others, not even his closest friend and, the oddest part of all, if he didn’t know better he’d think he was hunting something.

Hamish doesn't recognize what any of it means until he sees Grace Strachan. Now he understands everything. The first thing he has to do is find a way into her life.

If he can find a way into her life, can he trust her with a secret held for a lifetime?

Unedited Excerpt

Frustrated, Hamish took another drink of whisky and decided ten more minutes was all the event’s hosts were getting from him tonight. It would have to be enough this year. Off to the side, he noticed a particularly determined social maven make her way towards him. Walking away from the wall, he started to circle the room. A moving target was harder to catch.

On an evening like this one, all sorts of things filled his mind, but this particular night was different. Since he’d started getting ready to go out, there’d been something he didn’t understand rapidly growing inside him. It wasn’t a thing, but an intense need for something and it left him feeling eager, agitated and uneasy. He needed to figure it out and quickly before things spiraled beyond his control.

Stalking the edges of the party was making it worse and yet, now that he’s started, he couldn’t find the will to stop. Having defined some of what he felt, it was time to figure out what was happening. With that thought an image flashed into his mind and he immediately pushed it away because it didn’t make sense. Problem was the same picture kept coming back until he truly looked at it and then put himself into it.

Not that it made much more sense, but it appeared as if he literally was chasing something. His heart was beating so fast he felt he was running full speed. Only he wasn’t, he was walking around a ballroom, dressed up in his formal kilt attire and feeling out of sorts.

Without thinking about what he was doing, his eyes raced around the room, assessing the women attending the function. He took note of this one and that, casting them aside with little thought. Yes, that must be what was wrong with him. He needed to find a woman.

No, his woman. His mate.

Damn! Where had this focused need to find and mark a mate suddenly come from? What had he ever thought of a woman in such terms? He’d like to say it was his cousin’s fault, but it wasn’t. It was his life, his needs that were making him feel this way and he’d have to find a way through it.

One thing he was sure of was that the woman for him would have to be very special, because the particulars that made him who he was could be seen as horrific. He’d always believed any woman would run the moment he was fully exposed, but the one who belonged with him wouldn’t leave. With a fierce frown marking his face, he picked up the pace as he moved more intently around the room. Five minutes and not a second longer, then he’d be free.

“Grace! You finally made it. What took you so long?” A nasally high-pitched female voice shouted from somewhere behind him right before he felt a body brush by on his left. Natural reflexes had him following the flash of gaudy red as it moved past him.

“I missed my train and the second one took me through York, where we were delayed for ages.” A soft brogue laced the words and caught his attention. His cock twitched with interest. Fascinating, especially considering that he’d just discovered why he was so on edge. On a whim, Hamish changed his route to follow behind the duo as they made their way toward the bar.

“…thoughtful for inviting me…very hectic…glass of wine…”

The two women kept up a senseless conversation, which he ignored while looking over the new arrival. He had yet to see her from the front, but what he heard and could see definitely caught and held his attention.

Trying not to be obvious, Hamish looked over the woman walking in front of him in one long, slow sweep. First was blonde hair soft as silk, shiny and cut rigidly straight above her shoulders. This short style and her head movement gave him a peek of her very tempting neck. The sight of her silky skin left him wanting to kiss his way along the column to test exactly how soft she was. Then there was a light mossy-green slinky silk dress embracing her body, outlining curves that made his mouth water. She had lush hips and an ass he’d love to hold and stroke. Without any pockets to thrust his hand into, he knew it was obvious to anyone who looked to see how interested he was in the lady.

Having heard her talking, it was quickly becoming a necessity to hear her sweet voice speaking to him and not another. This discovery caused the tension already racing through him to ramp up. The power this unknown person had over him made him uncomfortable, and yet, he couldn’t walk away.

Not from her.

Alain came up beside him as he stood off to the side watching the duo join the end of the line for a drink.

“The blonde in green. Saw her come in and knew your cock would stand up and try to catch her attention. Have you seen anything other than the fine ass she has?”

“Stop right there.”

“What?”

Hamish looked at his cousin as irritation brought his eyebrows sharply together. Anger had filled him when he heard the other man talking about this woman as they had others. That had never happened before. It didn’t matter that he’d been thinking the same thing. There was something about this lady in specific that felt very personal. He didn’t want others to speak of her using these terms.

Thankfully Alain understood what he needed at that moment without him having to say anything.

“Fine, give me your drink and go queue up for another.”

Hamish shrugged and admitted to himself it was a good idea. Handing the glass over, he then closed the distance between them in four large steps.

Standing behind the blonde in green, he inhaled her feminine scent and in return his body grew even more interested. With his lust gathering steam, his eyelids fell to half-mast as he breathed her unique essence. The scent of heather with another hint of her teased him, gave him ideas of possessing this woman in the tall grass beside his loch in the heat of summer. There was definitely something special here that easily pulled him closer. Sensing she had some kind of power over him wasn’t comfortable, especially as he knew nothing about her.

The answer to this problem was to discover more about her.

Her name was Grace and she smelled of Scotland. As far as he was concerned it was a great start. There was also a sense of femininity and delicacy about her that he found incredibly attractive. It wasn’t because she was small and curvaceous, there was something else about her calling his male instincts to the surface. In the spike heels he saw her walking in when she lifted her long dress so as not to trip, left the top of her head to come up to his chin, which meant flat-footed she’d reach his shoulders.

While he gazed at her neck, he saw her hand reach up and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Her wrist was slight and he imagined how those graceful fingers would feel tracing intricate patterns over his flesh. From that point on he was lost in the need she created in him without ever seeing her face or knowing her name.

Entranced, he wanted to see and hear more from her. The little glimpses he had of her made him hungrier for more and he wanted it all.

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