THE HIGHLANDER'S SUBSTITUTE BRIDE

She was the spare. The forgotten one. The daughter of no consequence.

When her sister disappears hours before a peace-sealing Highland wedding, Mairi Fergusson has thirty minutes to decide: wear the veil, or lose everything.

She walks into the mist in the wrong woman's gown, toward the most feared man in Scotland.

When Callum MacKendrick lifts the veil and sees who is standing at his altar - he says nothing.

He says the vows.

He has been waiting for her for three years.

Since a treaty negotiation where he watched her silently correct her father's figures through a ledger, passing the corrections to the clerk without anyone looking up. He asked his man who she was. He was told: the middle daughter, the one of no consequence.

He disagreed.

The MacKendrick keep is cold, suspicious, and full of people who have cause to distrust the Fergusson name.

Mairi arrives with nothing but her intellect, a memory for clan law, and a secret knowledge of Gaelic she has been hiding since childhood.

She catalogues the library. She treats a child's fever at midnight in a downpour. She stands on the wall walk above forty armed men and defeats them with a legal argument she memorised from her father's own books.

She earns her place. One careful choice at a time.

But someone is still trying to destroy the peace they are both risking everything to build.

And the weapon being used against them is Mairi herself.

Her father taught her to be useful. He simply never told her how useful she was going to be to him.

When the mistake she didn't know she was making sends two men to the healer's room and the trust between her and Callum to ash, Mairi understands the full shape of the trap she was placed in.

She cannot explain her way back into his faith.

She can only be who she is, and wait for him to choose.

THE HIGHLANDER'S SUBSTITUTE BRIDE is a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers Scottish historical romance featuring:

• A heroine who solves the climax with clan law, not luck
• A hero who knew from the altar - and chose her anyway
• The Gaelic word Mo sholas-anam - my soul-light
• Atmospheric Isle of Skye setting, 1740s
• Full emotional resolution with series potential

Perfect for fans of atmospheric Highland romance who want a heroine with brains, a hero with depth, and a love story built on something that lasts.