Free HIGHLANDER: The Highlander’s Surrender Bride (Scottish Alpha Male Pregnancy Romance) by Serena Vale, Tencia Winters

younger sister who was back in boarding school in England. He was also head of the business, and it needed a strong leader. Someone who could step into the giant hole his father left behind. But he had been trained and tutored his entire life to take over running the business after his father retired.
    Dominic choked up again at the thought. His father had never gotten the chance, a freak accident ending his life way too soon. Gently, he hung the photo back on the wall and headed to his suite to pack. He was already calling the private airstrip to get a jet ready for the long flight to Boston.
    *
    “…Do you have any questions for us regarding the final amendments to the will, Mr. Strokowski?”
    Dominic stared blankly at the legal document, then up at the lawyer who sat staring at his from across the large desk. Against his will, his light blue grey eyes were drawn back to the papers in his hand. There was a lot of legal jargon mixed in there, but basically it declared that he would never be able to inherit the family’s business unless he was married with a child, let alone have access to any of the vast fortune stashed in several banks across Europe.
    He sawed out a harsh, bitter laugh. There was no humor in it.
    “Is this real? Is this even…possible?” Dominic struggled to make sense of it. Why would his father do this to him? He was only thirty three!
    “Yes, Mr. Strokowki, it is completely real, possible, and binding. As of now, all of your family’s assets are frozen, except your own funds, of course. Your father also allowed for a small stipend to be released each month until…” The beady eyed lawyer cleared his throat, “Well, until the terms are met.”
    “The terms are met!” Dominic exploded. “You mean until I’ve trapped myself into some loveless marriage and somehow procured a child!” He ranted in angry Russian for several minutes as he paced the large office. After a few minutes, he regained some measure of control.
    With a stiff nod at the blank faced lawyer, Dominic turned and made his way hastily out of the room.

Chapter 2
    “I’m so sorry, Ms. Banks. There are no other openings available here at Hawke and Harrison. There are several other very good law firms in the area, and I’m sure they would be more than happy to hire you on.”
                  Layla stared back at the smiling blue eyes and vapid expression on the woman sitting behind the desk, cheerfully, blankly. It didn’t matter to her one way or the other if Layla didn’t get the job, or the fact that she had gone to every other reputable law firm in the Boston area, without success. She also didn’t care that Layla had just suffered a massive tragedy, the death of her mother, and was about to lose her home. The home she had grown up in, and now couldn’t afford.
                  Her mother had been the only person she’d had in the entire world. And now she was all alone. After a moment of silence, Layla realized that she had been dismissed, so she quickly stood, held out her hand, firmly shook the other woman’s, and left. She held on to her composure until she got through the oversized, heavy wooden door separating the hallway and the office she had just been in.
                  She squeezed her big, dark brown eyes shut tight against the tears that threatened, but it was useless, as first one, then two, then a small flood made tracks over the velvet brown skin of her cheeks. Angrily, she swiped at them, casting them away as she took several deep breaths. She didn’t work her ass off to get through Harvard law school just have some secretary tell her that she wasn’t good enough.
                  As Layla stalked down the office towards the lobby, she tried to continue her mental rant, spurring on her anger. Anything to drown out the constant sorrow that had followed her around like a shadow since her mother’s sudden heart attack just a few months before. It still