Laird of the Highlands (International Billionaires #9) - Caro LaFever

 Laird of the Highlands by Caro LaFever

 Blurb:

A virgin geek. A seductive thief. A haunted castle they both demand to own.
Lorne Ross never loved his family’s castle and lands, but he can’t abide the thought of a scheming gold-digger inheriting. His father might have been fooled, but he won’t be. His aim? To not only seize back what’s his, but punish the woman who stole from him.

Ceri Olwen loves everything to do with Castle Ross. She loves the ancient castle, the Caledonia Forest that surrounds it, and more than anything, she loves the fact that she’s found her place. A place where she can make her dreams come true.

So when a fierce Highlander marches into her life, intent on grabbing everything she loves, Ceri battles with all of her weapons for the win. How could she know that beneath her enemy’s dangerous facade lies a shy, gentle man? A man who quickly finds a way to break down her formidable armor and expose her heart. A heart she had no intention of offering.  

On the one hand I loved this story about two people who start out as enemies only to find that the other one might just be the one person to help them heal and to find love. On the other hand I thought very often that some things were a bit exaggerated or that even though he is a bit different, Lorne can't be that ignorant and that careless concerning the castle and its history.
A satellite dish on a castle tower, for example? Really? Invading a castle and ignoring a will and someone else's ownership? Even for a billionaire this is rather a bit too much, I think and there's more of that.

But well, I really like Ceri and I also like Lorne. Ceri Llewellyn has been hurt in the past and she has to fight very hard to overcome these feelings and her memories. Lorne Ross is different. He has a hard time to connect with people and to understand them. Feelings and emotions are hard to read for him and he doesn't know how to deal with them. His world is code. Coding is his life and his career -  a successful career.
When he learns that his father has willed the family estate and the castle to some stranger, he returns to the castle to protect and regain what he sees as his - even though he never really felt like he belonged there. He just marches in and takes the castle over like it belonged to him instead of Ceri. Ceri tries to fight him but it is hard to fight against the financial power of a billionaire.
While still trying to fight each other, Ceri and Lorne start to fall in love - right until the moment when everythings falls apart. Will they find their way to each other again and be able to leave their past behind?

The style fitted Lorne and his problems because I never fully connected with the characters. I felt for them, I liked them but I never got really close to them. Nevertheless it is a nice story and I enjoyed reading it despite the points that I mentioned.

★★★