William Blackheath’s had recurring dreams, the same one, over and over again, of a woman calling out for him, asking for help. He doesn’t believe in seers, but goes to visit one anyway, to learn what the dreams mean. He’s told that to find peace, he has to find the woman. Shana Invermore’s half Scottish, half gypsy. She’s definitely not a wilting flower, nor is she always one to follow laws. She can raid with the best of them. Until she’s caught. Now Shana’s the captive Jacob Stewart. And that damned Steward plans to use her as bait. She’ll show him who’s bait. And William wonders how he was drawn into the middle of this Highland scuffle with a wild gypsy woman.

Rufus MacIntosh wants his family’s birthright back. He’s fought wars and his own personal demons. Time to claim what is his family’s. More specifically, his brother’s. And so, bringing friends and allies, he takes back what is his family’s. The lands are theirs again. Except now, Rufus discovers his brother has abandoned the birthright, the land, all of this. He’s headed to new lands and new worlds. Rufus should be relieved, he’s no longer responsible for any of it. He can walk away from their ancestral lands. He’s not sure if he wants to. Davina MacFarland never claimed she was an angel. She certainly isn’t a common thief, even though she’s related to one, now that her brother took Rufus McIntosh’s lands. She shouldn’t have been involved. She really shouldn’t. But now there’s been a scuffle and she’s the captive of that damned Rufus MacIntosh. But she can hold her own. Or can she?

He would sell his warrior soul to possess her. . . . An alluring laird... He was known throughout the kingdom as Hawk, legendary predator of the battlefield and the boudoir. No woman could refuse his touch, but no woman ever stirred his heart—until a vengeful fairy tumbled Adrienne de Simone out of modern-day Seattle and into medieval Scotland. Captive in a century not her own, entirely too bold, too outspoken, she was an irresistible challenge to the sixteenth-century rogue. Coerced into a marriage with Hawk, Adrienne vowed to keep him at arm's length—but his sweet seduction played havoc with her resolve. A prisoner in time... She had a perfect "no" on her perfect lips for the notorious laird, but Hawk swore she would whisper his name with desire, begging for the passion he longed to ignite within her. Not even the barriers of time and space would keep him from winning her love. Despite her uncertainty about following the promptings of her own passionate heart, Adrienne's reservations were no match for Hawk's determination to keep her by his side. . . .

The history of Irish Travellers is not analogous to that of the 'tinker', a Europe-wide underworld fantasy created by sixteenth-century British and continental Rogue Literature that came to be seen as an Irish character alone as English became dominant in Ireland. By the Revival, the tinker represented bohemian, pre-Celtic aboriginality, functioning as the cultural nationalist counter to the Victorian Gypsy mania. Long misunderstood as a portrayal of actual Travellers, J.M. Synge's influential The Tinker's Wedding was pivotal to this 'Irishing' of the tinker, even as it acknowledged that figure's cosmopolitan textual roots. Synge's empathetic depiction is closely examined, as are the many subsequent representations that looked to him as a model to subvert or emulate. In contrast to their Revival-era romanticization, post-independence writing portrayed tinkers as alien interlopers, while contemporaneous Unionists labelled them a contaminant from the hostile South. However, after Travellers politicized in the 1960s, more even-handed depictions heralded a querying of the 'tinker' fantasy that has shaped contemporary screen and literary representations of Travellers and has prompted Traveller writers to transubstantiate Otherness into the empowering rhetoric of ethnic difference. Though its Irish equivalent has oscillated between idealization and demonization, US racial history facilitates the cinematic figuring of the Irish-American Traveler as lovable 'white trash' rogue. This process is informed by the mythology of a population with whom Travelers are allied in the white American imagination, the Scots-Irish (Ulster-Scots). In short, the 'tinker' is much more central to Irish, Northern Irish and even Irish-American identity than is currently recognised.

A Highlander’s Captive Rufus MacIntosh wants his family’s birthright back. He’s fought wars and his own personal demons. Time to claim what is his family’s. More specifically, his brother’s. And so, bringing friends and allies, he takes back what is his family’s. The lands are theirs again. Except now, Rufus discovers his brother has abandoned the birthright, the land, all of this. He’s headed to new lands and new worlds. Rufus should be relieved, he’s no longer responsible for any of it. He can walk away from their ancestral lands. He’s not sure if he wants to. Davina MacFarland never claimed she was an angel. She certainly isn’t a common thief, even though she’s related to one, now that her brother took Rufus McIntosh’s lands. She shouldn’t have been involved. She really shouldn’t. But now there’s been a scuffle and she’s the captive of that damned Rufus MacIntosh. But she can hold her own. Or can she? A Highlander’s Gypsy William Blackheath’s had recurring dreams, the same one, over and over again, of a woman calling out for him, asking for help. He doesn’t believe in seers, but goes to visit one anyway, to learn what the dreams mean. He’s told that to find peace, he has to find the woman. Shana Invermore’s half Scottish, half gypsy. She’s definitely not a wilting flower, nor is she always one to follow laws. She can raid with the best of them. Until she’s caught. Now Shana’s the captive Jacob Stewart. And that damned Steward plans to use her as bait. She’ll show him who’s bait. A Highlander’s Reiver When a Highland lass is the orphaned charge of an uncle who leads ne’er-do-wells and thieves she has no choice but to stay and steal. No choice because leaving would mean abandoning her little brother. She’s told him not to follow her when she’s out reiving cattle from other clans. It’s just her luck he would choose to follow her on the night she’s captured. Drew MacIntosh never imagined he’d become the guardian of his sister’s twin toddlers. He’s a fighter. He’s not father material. Especially not to bairns as young as these two. And now he’s added to his burdens by apprehending a captivating reiver of a lass. One with a burden of her own, it would seem. How is he supposed to turn the lass over to Rufus so she can pay for her crimes when it would mean her brother would be left in the hands of brigands and cattle raiders? Life was so much simpler when he was soldiering and fighting. A Highlander’s Second Chance Clyde McMannis is not exactly happy. Who would be with his bairns and the love of his life gone? But he manages. He keeps his pain at bay with the ones he’s become close to. All of that changes when a familiar face from his long-forgotten past finds him and makes him an offer. Ailsa Dunne lost her true love and husband to war. She feels it fitting to fulfil his purpose and serve Scotland. When called to serve training young women to be assassins and spies, she answers the call. If only she could teach them everything. Alas, she cannot, so she must rely on the giant brute sent to help her. A man whose purposes seem contrary to her own. Can Clyde save his niece from danger and at the same time keep the shrewish but beautiful Ailsa from killing him?

Through the centuries, Gypsies all over the world have been misunderstood, maligned, rejected. Outcasts of the countries in which they live, they have wandered for centuries over the face of the earth. They have no homeland, no political unity, no recognition among nations. They have been alone, sundered, shunned, persecuted and banished. Until about a century ago, their original home had been a matter of dispute. Their language had been a source of puzzlement. Yet their conduct and their traditions, their feeling for music, dance and song, have all been acclaimed. Still they were not accepted and were forced to remain apart from conventional society. Here is their epic history, with its folktales and beliefs, its rites and customs. Here is the vast treasury of the Gypsies.

Gypsy Folk-Tales by Francis Hindes Groome, first published in 1899, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.