Kiwi Bride Series: Highland Kiss

Highland
Kiss

(Kiwi Bride
Series: Book Two)

Alexia
Praks

SMASHWORDS
EDITION

*****

Smashwords
Edition License Notes

PRACHAN PRESS

Highland Kiss

(Kiwi Bride Series: Book
2)

Alexia Praks

Copyright © 2014 by Alexia
Praks

All Rights
Reserved

This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

All rights reserved. This
book was self-published by the author Alexia Praks under Prachan
Press. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or electronic form without agreement and
written permission of the author. Please do not participate in or
encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the
author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

The author can be reached at:
www.alexiapraks.com

Published worldwide by
Prachan Press

Table of
Contents

Prologue

Chapter
1

Chapter
2

Chapter
3

Chapter
4

Chapter
5

Chapter
6

Chapter
7

Chapter
8

Chapter
9

Chapter
10

Chapter
11

Chapter
12

Chapter
13

Chapter
14

Chapter
15

Chapter
16

Chapter
17

Chapter
18

Chapter
19

Chapter
20

Chapter
21

Chapter
22

Chapter
23

Epilogue

More Books by
Alexia

Coming
Soon

About
Alexia

Border of Thailand and
Cambodia

REFUGEE CAMP

Young Alec felt the wind getting
knocked out of his lungs as the small arms tightened around his
middle, refusing to let go. Her familiar, earthy scent filled his
nostrils, causing his insides to burn with sorrow. Gingerly, he
wrapped his arms around her tiny frame. This half-Cambodian girl
with large brown eyes and black hair was his only friend in this
isolated, poverty-stricken place; a place he at first loathed, but
now knew he would sorely miss.

She tilted her head and gazed up at him. He noted that her
eyes were misting with fresh tears. O
h God!
She knew he
was leaving. But how did she find out when he never told her?
Perhaps she knew all along this wasn’t his home, and soon he would
have to leave, and return to his real home, to the familiarity of
Hasting Manor in Scotland. It was a complete contrast to the
refugee camp with its over-crowded, under-sanitized, and
disease-infested straw-thatched houses that were not fit to be
called “home.”

Tears rolled down her
dirty cheeks.

“
Don’t cry,” he said in a
soothing tone of voice.

“
Alee, don’t go,” she
hiccupped in her strong Cambodian accent.

Alec wanted to laugh
because he was immensely proud of her. In barely six months, she
learned what little English he taught her very well.

“
Alee, come
back?”

“
Of course, I will come back,” he lied, feeling a pang of
guilt. How could he tell her he would never come back? That these
past six months living here with his mother was only temporary? His
mother, Anna Hasting, Countess of Hayward, came to the camp to see
for herself that her money, which amounted to billions, was not
squandered by those who were managing it. And also to ensure that
the money she donated went to the right people, especially those
who needed it most, like this little girl, for example.

“
I have something for you.” He reached into the pocket of
his jeans and taking out a necklace with a silver elephant pendant.
He bought it a week ago from a Thai jewelry trader, and fell in
love with it instantly. He wanted to give it to her as a parting
gift.

He watched her stare at it
with unmasked delight.

“
It’s a gift. You keep it
safe, okay?” He placed the necklace, which was much too large for
her, around her tiny neck.

“
Thank you, Alee,” she
sobbed, hugging him tightly. “Please come back soon.”

“
I will,” he muttered
awkwardly, and, before he realized what he was doing, kissed her
forehead.

The little girl grinned
from ear to ear, pleased with his show of affection.

“
I have to go now,” he
said, turning on his heels and heading out the gate of the primary
school that didn’t look much like a school.

She watched him go, her
tiny hands clutching the elephant pendant closely to her chest.
“Please don’t forget me, Alee,” she said under her breath in
Khmer.

* * *

Present Day

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

A sudden lurch
of thrill rose from the pit of her stomach, and Ruby Williams-Chan
wondered if she was crazy. No, not crazy.
Mad!
Was she mad for planning to go
on such a big overseas trip all by herself when she had so much to
take care of? There was the family real estate business, which was
growing steadily, to look after; and the end of the financial year
was just around the corner. That meant she had to get all the
papers sorted out before filing the business tax return. Not to
mention, they just bought a house in need of serious renovation,
and pronto, before they could re-let it to new tenants. That would
take at least a couple of months of hard labor.

Without her
doing all the dirty work, such as fixing the toilets and door
handles, cleaning the dirty kitchen and bathroom, and of course,
painting the exterior and interior of the house, how could they get
it finished on time? How could they manage to make some
money
and
pay the
mortgage? Her younger sisters, however, insisted everything would
be fine and promised to take care of it. Perhaps they were right.
Perhaps she worried too much. Perhaps she was due for some “me
time” and simply should have felt free to enjoy what she always
wanted most—a decent holiday in Europe.

She chuckled at the thought.
Europe.
Who didn’t
want to go to Europe? Even the name, itself, sounded marvelous to
her ears.

Yes, Europe was a place
she always wanted to visit, and see, and smell, and be a part of.
She also wanted to go to a manor. Not just any old, crumbling
manor, but a livable manor in Scotland. Why a manor? Why Scotland?
She didn’t know. All she knew was that she wanted to visit a manor
in Scotland. There didn’t have to be a reason, right? And finally,
she could fulfill that dream.

“’
Allo? Anyone home?”

Ruby blinked, jolting back to reality; and noticed her
friend, Nikita Buchannan, waving and trying to get her
attention.
Well
,
so what if she were gone for a wee
while?
she rationalized,
albeit with a trace of guilt.

“
Where were you, Ruby?
La-la-land or Scotland?”

“
Scotland,” Ruby replied
automatically. “Sorry about that. This overseas trip of mine is
getting me nervous and excited at the same time.” She changed the
subject. “Now, I’m going to do your gum assessment.”

“
Yes, I can totally
understand that,” Nikita grumbled, meaning the opposite. “Do
explain, Ruby! You know I get anxious coming to see you. Don’t
leave me in the deep end.”

Ruby secretly grinned. She
knew Niki was a bit cranky today after that weird, little accident
with the hot guy at the supermarket.

“
He was nice,” Ruby
remarked, remembering the tall, muscular Asian-Australian who
nearly drove into Nikita.

“
He was rude!” Niki
muttered promptly, knowing whom her friend was referring to. “And
bloody arrogant, too. God, I hated his accent.”

“
You might see him
again.”

“
He’s Australian!” Niki
said with finality. “I will never see him again.”

Ruby knew how much Nikita
hated Australians because of her dad, who was, un-surprisingly, an
Australian. The man thoughtlessly abandoned her mother and her
years ago for another woman. It hurt Niki very deeply, and Ruby
could totally understand that. Thus, she simply grinned and said no
more.

After probing around
Niki’s mouth several times, she explained, “You have some bleeding
around your posterior lower dentition. I’m concerned. You even have
a four-millimeter pocket on the thirty-seven mesial lingual. Do you
floss regularly?”

Niki pulled a face.
“Hello! Could you just explain it in simple English? I don’t
understand those dental terms you’re talking about. What the heck
is a thirty-seven mesial lingual?”

Ruby shook her head at
Niki’s demand.

As a hygienist, dental terms came so naturally to her that
she forgot most people didn’t understand them. She might as well
have spoken alien to Nikita, even though it
was
English.

“
Okay! Your thirty-seven
is your second left bottom molar. The gum around there is not
looking too flashy. Just want you to floss some more around your
back teeth. Got it?”

“
Got it, Miss Dental
Hygienist. I shall obey all of your orders. Brush and floss twice a
day,” Niki said mockingly.

Ruby grinned as she
removed her gloves. After washing her hands with soap thoroughly,
she replaced the old gloves with a new pair and picked up the
Piezon periodontal scaling tip before inserting it into the
handpiece.

“
What are you doing now?”
Niki shrieked.

“
Niki, I’m about to scale
your teeth. Why are you always so alarmed? You come to see me every
six months; you should already know the procedure.”

“
You know I don’t like
coming to the dentist,” Niki defended, folding her arms across her
chest and crossing one leg over the other as she lay there, feeling
helpless on the dental chair.