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Lachlan’s Bride
By: Kathleen Harrington
Blurb:
He is Lachlan MacRath, laird
and pirate. And he intends to be her lover…
Lady Francine Walsingham could not believe this fierce Highland warrior is to be her escort into Scotland. It is whispered that Lachlan MacRath has magical powers…how else do you explain why her countrymen call him the Sorcerer of the Seas? But trust him she must, for a treacherous plot is about to reveal all her secrets…and Francine has no choice but to act as his lover to keep her enemies at bay.
When Lachlan first sees Francine, the English beauty stirs his blood like no woman has ever before. As luck would have it, they must now play the besotted couple so he can protect her ….and Lachlan is determined to use all his seductive prowess to properly woo her into his bed.
Interview:
To get started can you tell us what you are working on or
have coming out?
I'm presently working on the
third and last book of my Highland Lairds
Trilogy. The series is centered on three half-brothers, each a clan chief
in his own right, who are privateers during the reign of James IV of Scotland
The first book, THE MAC LEAN
GROOM, is set in the Scottish Highlands. It's the story of the oldest brother,
Rory MacLean, who is ordered by King James to wed the Maid of Glencoe, the
chief of the rebellious Macdonald clan. Lady Joanna has no intention of
marrying her enemy, however, and disguises herself as a serving lad to hide
from her unwanted bridegroom. Joanna's suspicion that Rory hides the tail of a
sea dragon beneath his kilt, and her efforts to discover the truth without
compromising her hopes for an annulment, only serve to bring her into close
proximity to a determined and resourceful warrior bent on her seduction.
Tell us about a favorite character from a book.
One of my favorite characters
is Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen's Pride
and Prejudice. I admire Lizzie's intelligence and wit and her devotion to
her quirky family. She recognizes her mother's flighty self-indulgence, her father's
cravenly retreats to his study, her younger sisters' silliness around the
military officers, but she remains fiercely loyal to them all. When Mr. Darcy
criticizes her family, she becomes furious, telling him he is the last man on
earth she could ever marry. Only after he comes to their assistance and saves
the family from social ruin, does Lizzie begin to perceive the depth of his
character and his love for her.
Does travel play in the writing of your books?
Oh, yes. I love to travel to
the places I plan to write about. I have visited England
and Scotland and Wales London London
to Edinburgh LACHLAN 'S BRIDE, is
woven around this historic trip. I stopped overnight in York
Tell us about your current release.
LACHLAN'S BRIDE, the second
book in the Highland Lairds Trilogy
will be released as an Avon Impulse on April 30th. It's currently on pre-sale.
I had a wonderful time writing
this book because of the humorous scenes relating to Lady Francine's belief
that Lachlan MacRath is a sorcerer. What seems so improbable to us at the
present time remained a certain belief throughout the Middle Ages.
Tell us about your next release.
I'm presently writing the story
of the third brother, Keir MacNeil. Lady Raine Cameron, whom readers will have
met in the first and second books of the series, stows away on Keir's ship, the
Black Raven. He has been sent to the Hebrides by King James to quell a rebellion of the Lord
of the Isles. Raine is in frantic search of the father she has never met,
before Laird MacNeil finds and kills him. The working title is KEIR'S STORY.
I want to thank you for
inviting me today and for giving me a chance to get acquainted with your
readers. I can be found at the following places:
Excerpt:
PROLOGUE
May 1496
The Cheviot Hills
The Border between England and
Scotland
Stretched flat on the
blood-soaked ground, Lachlan MacRath gazed up at the cloudless morning sky and
listened to the exhausted moans of the wounded.
The dead and the dying lay
scattered across the lush spring grass. Overhead the faint rays of dawn broke above
the hilltops, as the buttercups and bluebells dipped and swayed in the soft
breeze. The gruesome corpses were sprawled amidst the wildflowers, their vacant
eyes staring upward to the heavens, the stumps of their severed arms and legs
still oozing blood and gore. Dented helmets, broken swords, axes, and pikes
gave mute testimony to the ferocity of the combatants. Here and there, a loyal
destrier, trained to war, grazed calmly alongside its fallen master.
Following close upon daylight,
the scavengers would come creeping, ready to strip the bodies of anything worth
a shilling: armor, dirks, boots, belts. If they were Scotsmen, he'd be in luck.
If not, he'd soon be dead. There wasn't a blessed thing he could do but wait.
He was pinned beneath his dead horse, and all efforts to free himself during
the night had proven fruitless.
In the fierce, running battle
of the evening before, the warriors on horseback had left behind all who'd
fallen. Galloping across the open, rolling countryside, Scots and English had
fought savagely, till it was too dark to tell friend from foe. There was no way
of knowing the outcome of the battle, for victory had been determined miles
away.
Hell, it was Lachlan's own damn
fault. He'd come on the foray into England with King James for a lark. After
delivering four new canons to the castle at Roxburgh, along with the Flemish
master gunners to fire them, he'd decided not to return to his ship immediately
as planned. The uneventful crossing on the Sea Hawk from the Low
Countries to Edinburgh, followed by the tedious journey to the fortress, with
the big guns pulled by teams of oxen, had left him eager for a bit of
adventure.
When he'd learned that the king
was leading a small force into Northumberland to retrieve cattle raided by Sassenach
outlaws, the temptation to join them had been too great to resist. There was
nothing like a hand-to-hand skirmish with his ancient foe to get a man's blood
pumping through his veins.
But Lord Dacre, Warden of the
Marches, had surprised the Scots with a much larger, well-armed force of his
own, and what should have been a carefree rout turned into deadly combat.
A plea for help interrupted
Lachlan's brooding thoughts. Not far away, a wounded English soldier, who'd
cried out in pain during the night, raised himself up on one elbow.
"Lychester! Over here,
sir! It's Will Jeffries!"
Lachlan watched from beneath
slit lids as another Sassenach came into view. Attired in the splendid armor of
the nobility, the newcomer rode a large, caparisoned black horse. He'd clearly
come looking for someone, for he held the reins of a smaller chestnut, its
saddle empty and waiting.
"Here I am,
Marquess," the young man named Jeffries called weakly. He lifted one hand
in a trembling wave as the marquess of Lychester drew near to his countryman.
Dismounting, he approached the wounded soldier.
"Thank God," Jeffries
said with a hoarse groan. "I've taken a sword blade in my thigh. The cut's
been oozing steadily. I was afraid I wouldn't make it through the night."
Lychester didn't say a word. He
came to stand behind the injured man, knelt down on one knee, and raised his
fallen comrade to a seated position. Grabbing a hank of his yellow hair, the
marquess jerked the fair head back and deftly slashed the exposed throat from ear
to ear. Then he calmly wiped his blade on the youth's doublet, lifted him up in
his arms, and threw the body face down over the chestnut's back.
The English nobleman glanced
around, checking, no doubt, to see if there'd been a witness to the cold-blooded
execution. Lachlan held his breath and remained motionless, his lids lowered
over his eyes. Apparently satisfied, the marquess mounted, grabbed the reins of
the second horse and rode away.
Lachlan slowly exhaled.
Sonofabitch.
He knew the English were a
bloodthirsty race. But he hadn't thought that included the murder of a helpless
patriot on a deserted battlefield.
What kind of bastard did such a
traitorous thing?
Buy Links
Author Info:
KATHLEEN HARRINGTON, winner of
the Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence, has touched the hearts of
readers across the country with her sparkling tales of high adventure and
unending love. Her historical romances have been finalists for the Romance
Writers of America’s RITA, The Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards, the
Virginia Romance Writers’ HOLT Medallion, and the Phoenix Desert Rose Golden
Quill. Her fabulous heroes have garnered the KISS (Knight in Shining Silver)
Award. She lives in Southern California.
Author Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kathleensbooks//@kathleensbooks
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