“Karen Ranney writes with power, passion, and dramatic flair.” —Stephanie Laurens “Ranney is a rich, rare find.” —Judith Ivory   New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Ranney returns to the Highlands with A Highland Duchess —the second book in her lush Scottish historical romance series which began with Sold to a Laird. The story of a duchess taken captive briefly—just long enough to fall in love—by a lusty Scotsman, A Highland Duchess is a wildly romantic, deeply emotional tale. Romance readers adore Scotland-set love stories…and Karen Ranney’s are a cut above all the rest! The beautiful but haughty Duchess of Herridge is known to all the ton as the "Ice Queen." But to Ian McNair, the exquisite Emma is nothing like the rumors. Sensual and passionate, she moves him as no other woman has before. If only she were his wife and not his captive . . . Little does Emma know that the dark and mysterious stranger who bursts into her bedroom to kidnap her is the powerful Earl of Buchane, and the only man who has been able to see past her proper façade. As the Ice Queen's defenses melt under the powerful passion she finds with her handsome captor, she begins to believe that love may be possible. Yet fate has decreed that the dream can never be—for pursuing it means sacrificing everything they hold dear: their honor, their futures . . . and perhaps their lives. Karen Ranney wanted to be a writer from the time she was five years old and filled her Big Chief tablet with stories. People in stories did amazing things and she was too shy to do anything amazing. Years spent in Japan, Paris, and Italy, however, not only fueled her imagination but proved she wasn't that shy after all. Now a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, she prefers to keep her adventures between the covers of her books. Karen lives in San Antonio, Texas.