The Pirate’s Angel by Caroline Lee

The Black Banner has been the scourge of the Western Isles for as long as there have been stories of fierce and bloodthirsty pirates. But sometimes, a lady is desperate. Tavish MacLeod is the latest in a long line to wear the black kilt, but life has gotten simpler since his twin sister became Scotland’s spy-mistress. Sure, he’s pillaging and burning less often, but thanks to his royal connections, he and his crew are handed all the juiciest opportunities to help Scotland’s interests at sea. A royal privateer, so to speak.

Which will come in handy, since this latest mission isn’t a mission at all. Lady Isabel de Strathbogie is one of the Queen’s Angels, an elite group of spies masquerading as ladies-in-waiting. She loves her place at court, secure in her knowledge of her skills and her place…until disaster strikes. When her young son is kidnapped along with one of the royal princesses, Isabel’s desperation rivals the Queen’s.

No one can know of this danger to the royal succession, which means Isabel is on her own for this mission… And she’ll do anything to save her child, even if it means partnering with an uncouth barbarian in pirate garb. But no matter how he makes her pulse pound and her heart long for something long missing, she cannot allow Tavish MacLeod’s allure to distract her.

But when they come face-to-face with the enemy, that very allure might be all that can save her…and the children. Can she trust their future to a man with such a murky past?