When Bryce entered the hall in his best shirt and his hair combed, he found the small gathering waiting by the hearth. Other than two servants there were no other women with their group. For a moment his chest relaxed. Perhaps his bride had abandoned him. He’d be glad to be spared this duty. It would save them both a lot of misery. Lach might be able to force him to marry for an alliance, but the laird couldn’t force Bryce to live with her or get a bairn on her. It would be a marriage contract in name only. A binding to gain access to a seaport from the McCurdys and nothing more. Lach, Cam, and the priest were frowning when he arrived. “What’s the matter. Did the lass flee?” Bryce couldn’t help a slight smile. “Nay. She’s there with her maid.” Bryce glanced over at the woman young enough to be Dorie McCurdy. A tall stick of a girl who looked as if she hadn’t eaten a good meal in ages. Her midnight hair longed for a comb, and her blue eyes darted around as if ready for an attack. He’d noticed her as he’d approached, but thought…

Scotland’s held a special place in my heart for a long time. My mom put me in Highland Dancing when I was little, and I can remember standing on a chair in our dining room for hours as she struggled to make my kilt–pinning and repining the pleats and making sure it sat perfectly on my hips. She also made me a fitted, velvet vest to wear over my lacey blouse. The final product was beautiful but heavy (all those deep pleats!), making the dances even harder to perform. Not surprisingly, when I grew out of my costume a few years later and needed a new one, she paid someone else to make it. We were both happier that she left it to the professionals! So years later, when I was on a University exchange in England for six months, the first trip I took during spring break was all the way north through Scotland to the Orkney Islands, off the northeast coast. To get there I stopped in Edinburgh, Inverness, and other places along the way. Scotland was a magical place to me with its history, castles, green valleys, craggy mountains, and wild seas. And brawny Scots in kilts,…

Enjoy this fun interview between bestselling author SOPHIE JORDAN and Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager, Danielle Dresser! For readers who aren’t caught up, can you tell us a bit about the Rogue Files series, and your latest release, This Scot of Mine? Well, believe it or not, This Scot of Mine is the fourth book in the Rogue Files series. They’re all connected through characters often family members. By book four it’s a little challenging to relate how they are all connected. Book five, possibly the last in the series, is coming this October. Hmm. Maybe it’s time for a family tree!?   This Scot of Mine is a crazypants idea I came up with while on a writers retreat …. I pitched it to some of my other fabulous writer friends and we all brainstormed until I arrived at the final idea of a girl who PRETENDS to be ruined and pregnant (all lies for good reason) and gets paired up with the hero who needs to get married but has this curse hanging over his head.  I’ve read about secret babies before, but not so much about made-up pregnancies in historicals! Clara was such a fun heroine. What was your favorite part about writing her…

Prologue Once upon a time—in May 1785, to be exact—Angus MacTaggert, Earl Aldriss, traveled from the middle of the Scottish Highlands to London in search of a wealthy bride to save his well-loved but crumbling estate. Aldriss Park had been in the MacTaggert family since the time of Henry VIII, when Domhnall MacTaggert, despite being Catholic and married, declared publicly that Henry should be able to wed as many lasses as he wanted until one of them got him a son. Aldriss Park was the newly minted earl’s reward for his support and understanding. For the next two hundred years Aldriss thrived, until the weight of poor harvests, the ever-intruding, rule-making Sassenach, and the MacTaggerts’ own fondness for drinking, gambling, and wild investments (including an early bicycle design wherein the driver sat between two wheels; sadly, it had no braking mechanism and after a series of accidents nearly began a war within the MacTaggerts’ clan Ross) began to sink it into disrepair. When Angus inherited the title in 1783, he realized the old castle needed far more than a fresh coat of paint to keep it from both physical collapse and bankruptcy. And so he determined to go down among…

Happy New Year, Fresh Fiction folks! Thank you so much for inviting me to join you today and for helping celebrate the release of my tenth historical novel, A Bound Heart, with a three-book giveaway! When I’m not writing and traveling, I’m at home in the kitchen baking. As an author, I enjoy reading about as well as including culinary details in my own historical novels. Doing so lends a richness and authenticity to the story. My characters are historical foodies, for sure! And so, I’m delighted to share this Scottish shortbread recipe from my heroine, Lark MacDougall’s, humble hearth on the Isle of Kerrera in Scotland. This shortbread pairs deliciously with a steaming cup of tea or even coffee. Sláinte! Classic Scottish Shortbread 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar or superfine sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup oats, traditional or quick 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8″ round cake pan. 2. Grind the oats in a blender or food processor. If you don’t have a blender or food processor, use quick oats, rather than traditional. Combine the oats with the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix…

I’m very excited to be here on Fresh Fiction today to celebrate the release of A PROTECTOR IN THE HIGHLANDS! This book is the second in my Highland Roses School series about two sisters who journey into Scotland to start a school for ladies in the 1690s. The theme around the series centers on empowering women at a time when they were often treated as inferior. Women were left out of inheritances, business dealings, education, and decision making. Their purpose in life was to bear children and manage the home. And if a woman found herself in a domestic abuse situation or attacked, she was often blamed with no way out. When researching for my series, I read a wonderful book about two sisters living in the mid-1600s in England (A Court Lady and A Country Wife by Lita-Rose Betcherman). One sister birthed several children and managed her home mostly in the country while the other one became an influential woman at court. Both ladies were considered a success in their circles, although they had many limitations placed upon them because of their sex. Even though the court lady was a friend to the queen of England, she still had…

Horses. I love them. The bigger the better. Horses are featured prominently in my Highlanders of Balforss series. They frequently reflect and compliment the character of their owners and they are used symbolically to represent physical strength, power, loyalty, friendship, and love. In TYING THE SCOT, Alex’s horse, Goliath, is described as “the tallest thoroughbred anyone had ever seen. Seventeen hands high and a deep chestnut brown. Just seeing the spirited warmblood made Alex’s heart rate slow.” It is Goliath’s speed and endurance that help Alex save Lucy’s life. In BETTING THE SCOT, Declan’s horse, Gullfaxi is described as a “muscular dark gray gelding with a white main and tail.” Declan is influenced by his Viking heritage and holds great stock in Norse mythology. When Caya asks Declan why he named his horse Gullfaxi, he says, “Gullfaxi is the horse the Norse god, Thor, gave to his son. I ken the name means something like one with the golden mane.” In my latest novel, FORGETTING THE SCOT, horses play an even bigger role. Magnus’s horse Finbar has a personality of his own. Like Magnus, he is giant. Finbar is a Brabant, a Belgian breed of draft horse that would have…

I’ve been fortunate enough to do a lot of traveling, and my travels have heavily influenced my writing. My first book, INTO THE SCOTTISH MIST, was a time-travel romance that was inspired by a road trip in Scotland in 2005. Okay, I didn’t time travel, but when I looked upon the sapphire-blue expanse of Loch Ness with the ruins of Urquhart Castle standing sentinel over it, the mist-enshrouded hills of Glencoe, and the numerous standing stones on Orkney, I thought that if magic was possible anywhere, it would be in Scotland. My second book, A STAR TO STEER HER BY, is a romance set on a schooner during a semester at sea program. It was inspired by my own experiences in a similar program in my sophomore year of college. My new book, UNDER A STORM-SWEPT SKY, came about after I hiked Scotland’s West Highland Way, a ninety-six-mile trail that runs from Milngavie, just outside of Glasgow, to Fort William. I’d been to Scotland a few times since that road trip over a decade ago, and in 2015 I decided I wanted to see that incredible landscape on foot. Research led me to a company that does guided treks on…