The Immortal Highlander (Highlander Series #6)

The Immortal Highlander (Highlander Series #6)

by Karen Marie Moning
The Immortal Highlander (Highlander Series #6)

The Immortal Highlander (Highlander Series #6)

by Karen Marie Moning

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Overview

Enter a world of timeless seduction, of ancient intrigue and modern-day passion. Enter the dazzling world of Karen Marie Moning, whose acclaimed Highlander novels have captivated readers, spanning the continents and the centuries, bringing ancient Scotland vividly to life. In a novel brimming with time-travel adventure and sensual heat, the bestselling author of The Dark Highlander delivers a love story that will hold you in thrall—and a hero you will most certainly never forget.

BEWARE: lethally seductive alpha male of immense strength, do not look at him. Do not touch him. Do not be tempted. Do not be seduced.

With his long, black hair and dark, mesmerizing eyes, Adam Black is Trouble with a capital T. Immortal, arrogant, and intensely sensual, he is the consummate seducer, free to roam across time and continents in pursuit of his insatiable desires. That is, until a curse strips him of his immortality and makes him invisible, a cruel fate for so irresistible a man. With his very life at stake, Adam’s only hope for survival is in the hands of the one woman who can actually see him.

Enter law student Gabrielle O’Callaghan, who is cursed with the ability to see both worlds: Mortal and Faery. From the moment she lays eyes on this stunning male, Gabby is certain of one thing: He could be her undoing. Thus begins a long, dangerous seduction. Because despite his powerful strength and unquenchable hungers, Adam refuses to take a woman by force. Instead, he will tease his way into Gabby’s bed and make her want him just as he wants her.

Now, no matter how hard Gabby tries to avoid him, Adam is everywhere, invisible to all but her—perched atop her office cubicle in too-tight jeans, whispering softly from behind the stacks of the law library, stealing her breath away with his knowing smile…all the while tempting her with the promise of unimaginable pleasure in his arms. But soon danger will intrude on this sensual dance. For as Adam’s quest to regain his immortality plunges them into a world of timeless magic and the deadly politics of the Faery queen’s court, the price of surrender could be their very lives. Unless they can thwart the conspiracy that threatens both mortal and Faery realms…and give them a shot at a destiny few mortals ever know: glorious, wondrous, endless love.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780440334606
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 08/03/2004
Series: Karen Marie Moning's Highlander Series , #6
Sold by: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 384
Sales rank: 88,441
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

About The Author
Karen Marie Moning is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fever series, featuring MacKayla Lane, and the award-winning Highlander series. She has a bachelor’s degree in society and law from Purdue University.

Read an Excerpt

Cincinnati, Ohio Several months later . . .

Chapter One



Summer, Gabrielle O’Callaghan brooded—always her favorite season—had absolutely sucked this year.

Unlocking her car, she got in and slipped off her sunglasses. Shrugging out of her suit jacket, she nudged off her heels and took slow, deep breaths. She sat collecting herself for a few moments, then tugged free the clip restraining her hair and massaged her scalp.

She was getting the start of a killer headache.

And her hands were still shaking.

She’d nearly betrayed herself to the Fae.

She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid, but, God, there were just too many of them this summer! She hadn’t spotted a fairy in Cincinnati for years, but now, for some bizarre reason, there were oodles of them.

Like Cincinnati was some kind of great place to hang out—could a city be more boring? Whatever their unfathomable reason for choosing the Tri-State, they’d appeared in droves in early June, and had been ruining her summer ever since.

And pretending she didn’t see them never got any easier. With their perfect bodies, gold-velvet skin, and shimmering iridescent eyes, they were a little hard to miss. Drop-dead gorgeous, impossibly seductive, dripping pure power, the males were a walking temptation for a girl to—

Brusquely she shook her head to abort that treacherous thought. She’d survived this long and was darned if she was going to slip up and get caught by one of the erotic—exotic, she corrected herself impatiently—creatures.

But sometimes it was so hard not to look at them. And doubly difficult not to react. Especially when one caught her off guard like the last one had.

She’d been having lunch with Marian Temple, senior partner at the law firm of Temple, Turley and Tucker, at a posh downtown restaurant; a very critical lunch, during which she’d been interviewing for a postgraduate position.

A soon-to-be-third-year law student, Gabby was serving a summer internship with Little & Staller, a local firm of personal injury attorneys. It had taken her all of two days on the job to realize she was not cut out for representing pushy, med-bill-inflating plaintiffs who were firmly convinced their soft-tissue injuries were worth at least a million dollars per ache.

At the opposite end of the legal spectrum was Temple, Turley and Tucker. The most prestigious firm in the city, it catered to only the most desirable clients, specializing in business law and estate planning. What carefully selected criminal cases they chose to represent were renowned, precedent-setting ones. Ones that made a difference in the world, protecting fundamental rights and addressing intolerable injustices. And those were the cases she hungered to get her hands on. Even if she had to slave away for years, doing research and fetching coffee to get to them.

She’d been stressed all week, anticipating the interview, knowing that TT&T hired only the cream of the crop. Knowing she was competing against dozens of her classmates, not to mention dozens more from law schools around the country, in a cutthroat bid for a single opening. Knowing Marian Temple had a reputation for demanding nothing less than high-gloss sophistication and professional perfection.

But thanks to hours of aggressive practice interviews and pep talks from her best friend, Elizabeth, Gabby had been calm, composed, and in top form. The aloof Ms. Temple had been impressed with her scholastic achievements, and Gabby had gotten the distinct impression that the firm was predisposed to hire a woman (couldn’t be too careful with those equal-opportunity statistics), which put her ahead of most of the competition. The lunch had gone swimmingly, until the moment they’d left the restaurant and stepped out onto Fifth Street.

As Ms. Temple was extending that all-important invitation to come in for a second, in-house interview with the partners (which was never arranged unless the firm was seriously considering making an offer, joy of joys!), a sexy, muscle-bound fairy male sauntered right between them in that infuriatingly arrogant I’m-so-perfect, don’t-you-just-wish-you-were-me way they had, so close that its long golden hair brushed Gabby’s cheek like a sensual ripple of silk.

The intoxicating fragrance of jasmine and sandalwood surrounded her, and the heat radiating off its powerful body caressed her like a sultry, erotic breeze. It took every ounce of her considerable self-discipline to not inch backward out of its way.

Or worse—yield to that incessant temptation and just pet the gorgeous tawny creature. How many times had she dreamed of doing that? Copping one tiny forbidden fairy-feel. Finally finding out if all that golden fairy skin really felt as velvety as it looked. You must never betray that you can see them, Gabby.

Thoroughly discombobulated by the fairy’s proximity, her suddenly nerveless hand lost its grip on the iced coffee she’d taken from the restaurant in a to-go cup. It hit the sidewalk, the top flew off, and coffee exploded upward, drenching the impeccable Ms. Temple.

At that precise moment, the fairy turned back to look at her, its iridescent eyes narrowing.

Panicked, Gabby focused all her attention on the sputtering Ms. Temple. With the enthusiasm of near-hysteria, she plucked tissues from her purse and dabbed frantically at the spreading coffee stains on what had been, moments before, a pristine ivory suit that she had a sick feeling cost more than she made in a month.

Babbling loudly about how clumsy she was, apologizing and blaming everything from eating too much, to not being used to heels, to being nervous about the interview, in a matter of moments, she managed to completely blow the image of cool, composed confidence she’d so painstakingly projected through lunch.

But she’d had no choice.

In order to make the fairy believe she hadn’t seen it, that she was just a clumsy human, nothing more, she’d had to act like a complete spaz and risk sabotaging her credibility with her prospective employer.

Sabotage it, she had.

Swatting away Gabby’s frantically dabbing hands, Ms. Temple smoothed her ruined suit and huffed off toward her car, pausing to toss stiffly over her shoulder, “As I told you earlier, Ms. O’Callaghan, our firm works with only the highest caliber clients. They can be demanding, excessive, and temperamental. And understandably so. When there are millions at stake, a client has every right to expect the best. We at Temple, Turley and Tucker pride ourselves on being unflappable under stress. Our clients require smooth, sophisticated handling. Frankly, Ms. O’Callaghan, you’re too flighty to be successful with our firm. I’m sure you’ll find an appropriate fit elsewhere. Good day, Ms. O’Callaghan.”

Feeling like she’d been kicked in the stomach, Gabby watched in stricken silence as Ms. Temple accepted her spotless Mercedes from the valet, dimly registering that the fairy, blessedly, was also moving on. As the sleek pearl-colored Mercedes merged onto Fifth Street and disappeared into traffic—the job of her dreams flapping farewell on its tailpipe—Gabby’s shoulders slumped. With a gusty sigh, she turned and trudged down the street to the corner lot where simple law students not-destined-for-success-because-they-were-too-flighty could afford to park.

“ ‘Flighty,’ my ass,” she muttered, resting her head on the steering wheel. “You have no idea what my life is like. You can’t see them.”

All Ms. Temple had probably felt was a slight breeze, a moderate increase in temperature, perhaps caught a whiff of an exotic, arousing fragrance. And if, by chance, the fairy had brushed against her—although they were invisible, they were real, and were actually there—Ms. Temple would have rationalized it away somehow. Those who couldn’t see the Fae always did.

Gabby had learned the hard way that people had zero tolerance for the inexplicable. It never ceased to amaze her what flimsy excuses they dredged up to protect their perception of reality. “Gee, I guess I didn’t get enough sleep last night.” Or, “Wow, I shouldn’t have had that second (or third or fourth) beer with lunch.” If all else failed, they settled for a simple “I must have imagined it.”

How she longed for such oblivion!

She shook her head and tried to console herself with the thought that at least the fairy had been convinced and was gone. She was safe. For now.

The way Gabby figured it, the Fae were responsible for ninety-nine percent of the problems in her life. She’d take responsibility for the other one percent, but they were the reason her life this summer had been one crisis after another. They were the reason she’d begun to dread leaving her house, never knowing where one might pop up, or how badly it might startle her. Or what kind of ass she’d make of herself, trying to regroup. They were the reason her boyfriend had broken up with her fifteen days, three hours, and—she glanced broodingly at her watch—forty-two minutes ago.

Gabrielle O’Callaghan harbored a special and very personal hatred for the Fae.

“I don’t see you. I don’t see you,” she muttered beneath her breath as two mouthwatering fairy males strolled past the hood of her car. She averted her gaze, caught herself, then angled the rearview mirror and pretended to be fussing with her lipstick.

Never look away too sharply, her grandmother, Moira O’Callaghan, had always cautioned. You must act natural. You must learn to let your gaze slide over them without either hitching or pulling away too abruptly, or they’ll know you know. And they’ll take you. You must never betray that you can see them. Promise me, Gabby. I can’t lose you!

Gram had seen them, too, these creatures other people couldn’t see. Most of the women on her mom’s side did, though sometimes the “gift” skipped generations. As it had with her mom, who’d moved to Los Angeles years ago (like the people in California were less weird than fairies), leaving then–seven-year-old Gabrielle behind with Gram “until she got settled.” Jilly O’Callaghan had never gotten settled.

Why couldn’t it have skipped me? Gabby brooded. A normal life was all she’d ever wanted.

And proving damned difficult to have, even in boring Cincinnati. Gabby was beginning to think that living in the Tri-State—the geographical convergence of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky—was a bit like living at the mystical convergence of Sunnydale’s Hellmouth.

Except the Midwest didn’t get demons and vampires—oh, no—they got fairies: dangerously seductive, inhuman, arrogant creatures that would take her and do God-only-knew-what to her if they ever figured out that she could see them.

Her family history was riddled with tales of ancestors who’d been captured by the dreaded Fae Hunters and never seen again. Some of the tales claimed they were swiftly and brutally killed by the savage Hunters, others that they were forced into slavery to the Fae.

She had no idea what actually became of those foolish enough to be taken, but she knew one thing for certain: She had no intention of ever finding out.

Later Gabby would realize that it was all the cup of coffee’s fault. Every awful thing that happened to her from that moment on could be traced directly back to that cup of coffee with the stunning simplicity of an airtight conditional argument: If not for A (said cup of coffee), then not B (blowing job interview), hence not C (having to go into work that night), and certainly not D (the horrible thing that happened to her there) . . . on to infinity.

It really wasn’t fair that such a trivial, spur-of-the-moment, seemingly harmless decision such as taking an iced coffee to-go could change the entire course of a girl’s life.

Not that she didn’t hold the fairy significantly culpable, but studying law had taught her to isolate the critical catalyst so one could argue culpability, and the simple facts were that if she hadn’t had the cup of coffee in her hand, she wouldn’t have dropped it, wouldn’t have splattered Ms. Temple, wouldn’t have made an ass of herself, and wouldn’t have lost all hope of landing her dream job.

If not for the cup of coffee, the fairy would have had no reason to turn and look back at her, and she would have had no reason to panic. Life would have rolled smoothly on. With the promise of that coveted second interview, she would have gone out celebrating with her girlfriends that night.

But because of that nefarious cup of coffee, she didn’t go out. She went home, took a long bubble bath, had a longer cry, then later that evening, when she was certain the office would be empty and she wouldn’t have to field humiliating questions from her fellow interns, she drove back downtown to catch up on work. She was behind by a whopping nineteen arbitration cases, which, now that she didn’t have a different job lined up, mattered.

And because of that calamitous cup of coffee, she was in a bad mood and not paying attention as she parallel-parked in front of her office building, and she didn’t notice the dark, dangerous-looking fairy stepping from the shadows of the adjacent alley.

If not for the stupid cup of coffee, she wouldn’t have even been there.

And that was when things took a diabolical turn from bad to worse.

Interviews

An Interview with Karen Marie Moning

Karen Marie Moning takes time-travel romance to new heights in this wonderfully entertaining entry in the Highlander series, featuring two complete opposites who meet, combust, and fall head-over-heels in love. On one side: law student and mortal Gabrielle O'Callaghan, who actually can see the Fae, or faeries, but has been taught by her grandmother not to acknowledge doing so lest she lose her soul. On the other: Adam Black, the ultimate hottie Fae, whose playboy past has been drastically and recently curbed by the curse of invisibility. In fact, the only woman who can see him is Gabrielle, and she thinks he is her worst nightmare. After Adam blackmails her into helping him, they flee through time and space to outrun his pursuers. As their attraction deepens, Gabrielle has just one question: How can there be a happily-ever-after when one lives forever and one doesn't?

Heart to Heart persuaded Karen Marie Moning to take a break from time-travel and tell us about her life and work.

Heart to Heart: You graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in society and law. What's a nice scholar like you doing flitting from century to century, following dark magic?

Karen Marie Moning: The flitting from century to century, following dark magic, wasn't a conscious choice. I think writers bring to the table that which fascinates them, weaving stories around those elements. Magic, history, time -- in both a physics and a metaphysical sense -- sex, romance, the tension of mortality, all these things fascinate me. So I write steamy, romantic time-travels with ancient artifacts and civilizations, peopled by the occasional immortal, shaped by legend and myth.

HtoH: Your books are filled with Druid lore and historical detail. Tell us about the kind of research you do for your books.

KMM: Read, read, read. So many books; so little time. It is not enough for me to read a book, I have to own it. I hope one day to collect rare editions. Much of the research in my novels is a product of having read voraciously all my life. However, I've amassed an extensive reference collection encompassing many topics: the Templars, Scotland, Ireland, archaeology, Celtic lore, codes, physics, the origins of language and the alphabet, books before printing, illuminated manuscripts, time, theories of time-travel, language, custom, and historical references. When I begin a novel, I have a broad idea what I plan to research, which narrows as I write and the characters/stakes begin to speak to me and define themselves.

HtoH: Who and what influenced you as a writer or storyteller?

KMM: I owe my first and perhaps greatest debt to science fiction/fantasy writers; it was Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, and Sherri Tepper who first drew me into a fictional world, ignited my imagination and passion for storytelling, pushed my mind beyond the quotidian into a world with no boundaries: the world of "what if?" Since then, I've found inspiration in the works of an odd mishmash of writers. To name a few: Jorge Luis Borges, Judith Ivory, Neil Gaiman, Rudy Rucker, Lisa Kleypas, Katherine Neville, Terry Pratchett, Linda Howard...the list is as long as it is eclectic.

HtoH: Your characters are so strong, so passionate. Are they based on any real people, past or present?

KMM: I wish. If so, I'd run off with Dageus. Or Drustan. No, Adam, definitely Adam. On a more serious note, yes, to an extent. There are bits and pieces of people I know in all my characters, including myself. But contrary to a theory some people espouse, I'm not to be found in my heroines. If I wrote my Scorpio personality into a heroine, the story would be too dark, too moody to market as romance.

HtoH: How do you go about starting a new book? What comes first to you -- plot, character, chemistry, or something else?

KMM: A single scene -- the opening one -- comes to me; I play with it, feel it out, see if it wants to grow. And from that comes a novel. At various points, perhaps 50 pages into it, again at 100, and at a half dozen more points throughout the novel, I step back from the fictional immersion and lend it structure, craft it a bit. But lightly. I've tried controlling my writing, deciding in advance exactly what I intend to write, but I've found that the harder I muscle it, the more aggravated the muse gets. But I want to play, she says. This isn't fun, I'm leaving.

I believe any act of creativity springs from joy. That stories come from a place in the subconscious where myth and archetype and collective memory burble and hiss in a primordial stew. For me, attempting to control this process turns it into labor, not creation. If forced, I can plot quite competently, but the story I write upon completion of said plotting rarely resembles what I've plotted, ergo, I don't see much point in bothering.

HtoH: The time travel element in your stories always presents intriguing situations. Would you have liked to live in a different time period? Which one, and what would that have been like for a woman?

KMM: The future; when space travel is possible. I thoroughly resent having been born in a time before space travel. What would it be like for a woman? We'd be captains of our own starships.

HtoH: Do you have a favorite Highlander novel, and why?

KMM: The Immortal Highlander. If a parent loves the most difficult child differently, in my case, it's more.

HtoH: What's next for you? And for the Highland lairds?

KMM: Several story ideas on the burners: an alternate universe that runs parallel to the MacKeltars, but with sorcerers, not Druids; another MacKeltar (or two); and then there's a fallen Fae who is demanding attention every bit as insistently and tenaciously as I am endeavoring to ignore him. As if Adam wasn't difficult enough...

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