Highlander’s Winds of Hope by Alisa Adams

Can a woman who has suffered so much still hope?

Mary Douglas Mallach is a widow, and no man is willing to marry her after he meets her four wild boys! Nevertheless, her brother Laird Bhaltair Douglas insists that she marries again and finally manages to arrange a wedding with a merchant who resides in Scotland’s far north in the Orkney Islands. However, the northern waters around the Pentland Firth are dangerous and difficult to sail, and they are full of pirates…

Seeking a way to protect her, her brother takes her to meet the only man he trusts to take his sister and his nephews on the dangerous journey; Captain Broccin Orcadian. The hardened Captain does not want a woman and four boys on his ship, but he is offered a tremendous sum of money by the Laird, more than enough to buy a second ship.
As their journey begins, Mary expects the intimidating Captain to be as cruel as her children’s father, and just like most of the men she has met. The beautiful but timid widow has become wary of men, and at first, she was terrified of the towering Captain Orcadian with the scary jagged scar on his cheek. However, when her boys misbehave, he makes them work to pay for all the tricks they did on his ship, and the boys are excited to learn under his commands!

Unfortunately, the boys’ mischievous behavior soon becomes the least of their worries; Broccin has faced quite a few challenges, but the one coming their way might be the most dangerous of them all! A combination of bad luck and the return of a long-forgotten foe create the perfect storm. And this time Broccin has to keep safe not only himself and his crew but also the lady and the children, and thus decides to come up with an audacious plan.

Yet, if Mary does not trust him and work with him, his plan is doomed to fail. And how can she be sure that this man is any different from all the cruel and lying men she has met in the past?