Borrowed Dreams (Scottish Dream Trilogy) (47 page)

As with all of our novels, with
this book we have tried to depict a place and a time in a way that mingles the
real and the imagined in an entertaining way. The issue of slavery in England and in the sugar islands of the West Indies is one that we have introduced in our earlier
work. We hoped to give our readers another glimpse, through the eyes of
Ohenewaa, of the trauma that innocents suffered throughout centuries of
injustice. Many authors contributed unknowingly to our account of the slave
trade through their work. We’d like to thank James Pope-Hennessy for his work
Sins
of the Fathers: The Atlantic Slave Traders
, and Marcus Wood for his
B
lind Memory: Visual Representations of Slavery in England and America
.

The Highland clearances were only
touched upon in this book. In the following stories about the men and women of Baronsford, we will enjoy together more of the history of Scotland as it unfolds.

As always, we love to hear from our
readers.

May McGoldrick

www.MayMcGoldrick.com

[email protected]

The
'May McGoldrick Family Tree' Book Information

Our 16th Century books...

In The Thistle and the Rose, Colin
Campbell and Celia Muir are introduced...

And we also introduce Alec
Macpherson, who is the hero of our second book, Angel of Skye (Macpherson Trilogy)... 

 Alec has two brothers,
Ambrose and John, who are the heroes of Heart of Gold and The Beauty of the Mist, respectively...

 In Angel of Skye, we also introduce a little boy, Malcolm MacLeod, and in Heart of Gold we introduce a
little girl, Jaime...

When Malcolm MacLeod and Jaime grow
up, they are the hero and heroine of The Intended... 

In Heart of Gold, we also introduce
Gavin Kerr, who becomes the hero of Flame... 

In Flame, we introduce a number of
characters who show up in The Dreamer, The Enchantress, and The Firebrand (the
Highland Treasure Trilogy), including John Stewart, the earl of Athol and a
number of villains...

The Highland Treasure Trilogy is
the story of three sisters...Catherine Percy of The Dreamer, Laura Percy of The
Enchantress, and Adrianne Percy of The Firebrand...

In The Enchantress, we introduce
Sir Wyntoun MacLean, who also appears in The Firebrand...

In The Firebrand, we also introduce
Gillie the Fairie-Borne, who may just have a story of his own one day...

Colin Campbell and Celia (from The
Thistle and the Rose) also make a 'cameo' appearance in The Firebrand...

Alec Macpherson and Fiona (from Angel of Skye) have three sons. The youngest, Colin Macpherson, is the hero of Tess and the
Highlander (a young adult novel published by HarperCollins in November 2002)

Arsenic and Old Armor (Love and
Mayhem) By Nicole Cody is a retelling of Arsenic and Old Lace. Reference made
to Angel of Skye.

Our 18th Century Books

In The Promise, Samuel Wakefield,
the Earl of Stanmore, and Rebecca Neville/Ford are the hero and heroine...

In that book we also introduce
Stanmore's friend, Sir Nicholas Spencer, who becomes the hero of The Rebel,
which is set in Ireland...

Stanmore and Rebecca also appear in
The Rebel...

In The Promise, we also introduce
Rebecca's friend, Millicent Wentworth, who becomes the heroine of Borrowed Dreams...

Borrowed Dreams is the start of a
new trilogy about three Scottish brothers, starting with Lyon Pennington, Earl
of Aytoun. We also meet a new cast of characters who show up in the trilogy.
Violet, from The Promise, plays a big role in this book, too. She will show up
again in the third book in the trilogy, Dreams of Destiny.

In Captured Dreams, we see Lyon and
Millicent and the entire household of Baronsford in Scotland, along with
wonderful heroes and villains that David Pennington meets in colonial Boston. 

In Dreams of Destiny, the mystery
of Emma's death is solved...

Ghost of the Thames…a Dickensian
novel
.

Stay tuned.

About the Author

Nikoo & Jim McGoldrick have spent their lives gathering
material for their novels. Nikoo, a mechanical engineer, and Jim, who has a
Ph.D. in sixteenth-century British literature, wrote their first May McGoldrick
novel in 1994. Since then, they have taken their readers from the Highlands of
Scotland to the mountains of Kurdistan in bestselling, award-winning historical
romance and contemporary suspense novels under the names May McGoldrick, Nicole Cody, and Jan Coffey.

www.NikooandJim.com

www.MayMcGoldrick.com

You can contact us at [email protected]

Please like May McGoldrick author page on facebook to
receive the latest updates.

Complete Book List as of 2013

Writing As May McGoldrick:

Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Made In Heaven

Ghost of the Thames

Scottish Dream Trilogy

Dreams Of Destiny

Captured Dreams

Borrowed Dreams

The Rebel

Tess and The Highlander  (A YA Novel)

The Promise

Highland Treasure Trilogy

The Firebrand

The Enchantress

The Dreamer

Flame

The Intended

Macpherson Trilogy

Beauty Of The Mist

Heart Of Gold

Angel Of Skye

Thistle and The Rose

Writing As Nicole Cody & May McGoldrick:

Love and Mayhem  (reissued as Arsenic and Old Armor)

Writing As Jan Coffey:

Mercy

Aquarian (A YA Novel)

Blind Eye

The Puppet Master

The Deadliest Strain

The Project

Silent Waters

Five in a Row

Tropical Kiss (A YA Novel)

Fourth Victim

Triple Threat

Twice Burned

Trust Me Once

Here's
an excerpt from the next book in Scottish Dream Trilogy

Captured Dreams

By

May McGoldrick

June 1772

Holding her feathered mask to her
face, Portia glanced at the various doors around the room, going over in her
mind the plan of the North End mansion. She had paid good money to get the
correct layout of the house. She touched the locket she wore about her neck and
hoped now that the information was correct.

Portia knew the masquerade ball
held at the elegant house on Copp’s Hill to honor the King’s Birthday was the only opportunity she would have. Admiral Middleton almost never entertained, so
when else would she be able to gain access to the grounds? Her mother had been
locked away for twenty-four long years, and Portia was determined to free her
tonight.

As it was, the guest list included
only the most elite members of Boston’s Tory society, and even included the
Governor. Of course, no invitation addressed to any Portia Edwards had arrived
at the door of Parson Higgins and his wife, where Portia was living, but she
had forgiven the Admiral the oversight. She had simply lied to a dear friend
and deceived people who considered her part of their family. She didn’t have
any choice, though. It had to be tonight.

“You are very quiet this evening,
my pet.”

My pet. My pet
. Portia tried
to not lose her patience at Captain Turner’s condescending expression. She
turned to the officer. As before, he was standing stiffly over her and leaning
forward as he spoke. The gown she had borrowed from Bella was far too tight,
and the corset’s whalebone stays were certain to leave permanent marks in her
flesh. Portia had caught him staring at her breasts a half-dozen times already,
and she lowered her mask to cover the revealing front of the gown. The officer
looked into her face, and she pasted on a smile.

Captain Turner, a second cousin to
her young friend Bella, had been the means for Portia to get into the mansion.
Now, however, she was having some difficulty ridding herself of him.

“I am simply
numb
with
excitement.” Portia raised the mask again to her face and looked around the
paneled ballroom in search of a distraction for her companion. The notes of the
minuet rose and fell as the other guests paraded about. There were far fewer
women than men, though it appeared that some of Boston’s less elite Tory
families had also sent their daughters. “I do wish you would not feel obligated
to remain at my side, Captain. I should hate to make enemies with all these
lovely ladies by keeping you to myself.”

“Nonsense, my pet. I would not dare
ruin your opinion of me by neglecting you. You know that I have been waiting
upon you for months…and to no avail, I might add.”

“But Captain, I have only been in
the colonies for little more than eight months.”

“And I have been your devoted
servant since first seeing you after Reverend Higgins’s inaugural sermon. You
cannot know how delighted I was at my good fortune when my young cousin was
introduced to you the following
Sunday.”

“The good fortune was mine, but—”

“To be honest,” he interrupted,
“after we met a month later, and then you refused to answer any of my letters,
I was about ready to give up hope. I do not need to tell you, therefore, how
thrilled I was when my lovely cousin sent me word that you had finally agreed
to allow me to call upon you. And when you consented to accompany me here…ah,
what delight! And now you suppose that I would step away from the glow of your
loveliness?”

Captain Turner continued to speak,
and Portia lowered the mask, glancing with disbelief at the officer, whose eyes
were again fixed on her breasts. He was a man in his forties, she judged, and
though he had apparently been powerfully built in his youth, his physique was
now beginning to decline into the softness of middle age. Still, she had
underestimated the captain’s ardent interest in her.

“Warm, is it not?” she interrupted.
“Would you be kind enough to get me something to drink, Captain?”

Her escort bowed, only to turn as a
passing servant appeared carrying a tray filled with cups of punch. Portia
silently cursed her luck and, with a weak smile, accepted one. When the captain
again started with his lean, she glanced desperately about the room.

“I have never had such an
opportunity to see so many distinguished people. The military men look so
dashing in their finery.”

“I should be happy to introduce you
to any of them, along with their wives,” Turner offered jovially. “We have some
particularly fine men serving His Majesty here in Boston, and their wives would
be delighted to meet you, I am sure. Whom specifically would you care to meet?”

She looked about for some guest far
from where they were standing. She had no difficulty finding one. Leaning with
a haughty air against a column near the door, the man’s black scowl matched his
dark attire.

“That gentleman…” She motioned with
the mask. “I do not believe I have ever seen him.”

“I should be surprised if you had
met him, my pet.” Turner’s nose climbed an inch in the air in obvious distaste.
“That is Pierce Pennington, a brother to the Earl of Aytoun. An old family, but a scoundrel of a Scot, to be sure. This past year, since coming to Boston, he has been making a name for himself in finance and shipping.”

“Is this not a difficult time to be
establishing oneself in such pursuits,” Portia asked, “considering the
townspeople’s refusal to pay the tax for English goods?”

“Not if one lacks a certain…well, a
certain respect for His Majesty’s laws of trade.”

“Do you mean he deals with
smugglers?”

“I mean no such thing, officially. But we shall soon enough identify the key malefactors who are enriching themselves at the
Crown’s expense…and put an end to that nonsense.” Turner’s gaze remained fixed
on Pennington. “There are many things about that gentleman that I do not
understand. But then again, my superiors consider him completely loyal to the
king, and safely above assisting these troublesome colonists. In fact,
Pennington’s younger brother is an officer in the Army and has a fine
reputation, by all accounts.”

“You make Mr. Pennington sound all
the more interesting, Captain.”

“You cannot be serious, Miss
Edwards.”

“Indeed I am.” The sound of
carriages and riders from the courtyard signaled the promised arrival of the
governor and his entourage. Portia knew he never traveled anywhere now without
an armed military escort. She put on her sweetest smile. “I know I am safe with
you, Captain. Would you kindly beg an introduction of the gentleman?”

“Of all the fine persons in the
room, my pet, I do not understand why you should be so determined to meet
this…this Scot.”

“If you please,” she asked. “You
know that Parson Higgins’s wife is of Scottish ancestry. I should so like to
tell her that you took the pains to introduce me to a distinguished countryman
of hers.”

“Distinguished,” he scoffed,
casting a sour glance at the distance that he would need to walk. “If you must,
then why not come with me and—”

“No, I cannot,” she said, hiding
her face once again behind the mask. “I could never allow the rumor to spring
up that I was discontent with spending time in your company, Captain. You are
far better acquainted with the rules of society than I, but I should think that
if you and Mr. Pennington were to approach me, there could be no reason for
gossip.”