Highland Bachelor 02 - This Laird of Mine (22 page)

Author’s Note

O
ne of the plotlines in the Highland Bachelors series involves a group of men and women known as the Covenanters. The Covenanters were seventeenth-century Scottish Presbyterians devoted to maintaining Presbyterianism as the sole religion of Scotland. Covenanters were bound by oath to sustain one another in the defense of their religion and therefore signed covenants stating that fact.

These covenants that proclaimed the Covenanters’ loyalty to God, as opposed to the king, began a chain of events that intensified in 1679 at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge on the River Clyde and set off a period in Scottish history from roughly 1680 to 1688 that was known as the Killing Times, when nearly 18,000 Covenanters, as well as the government forces who tried to control them, lost their lives.

In 1679, after the Scottish Covenanters’ uprising was quashed at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, around 1,200 prisoners were herded to Edinburgh. Some 400 of those ended up in an open space at Greyfriars kirkyard that became known as the Covenanters’ Prison. Many of these prisoners were set free after making submission, while some were executed and others died of illness or wounds because of the horrendous conditions they were forced to endure.

What happened to the 300 prisoners who survived? That tale will continue throughout the Highland Bachelors series.

You were first introduced to the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in
A Laird for Christmas
as Nicholas Kincaid and Lady Jane Lennox dealt with the painful aftermath of war.

Jules MacIntyre and his wife Claire are forced to head into the historic and unsettling location of the Covenanters’ Prison in Greyfriars kirkyard in
This Laird of Mine
in order to rescue Claire’s wards.

Colin Taylor will need the help of Lady Portia Rothesay as they discover a past that links him to the Covenanters, a past that could get them both killed in
A Laird in Shining Armor
.

David Buchanan, Bryce MacCallister, and Jane’s brother Jacob Lennox all have roles to play in what happens to the Covenanters as the government forces threaten not only their lives, but all they hold dear in upcoming adventures.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the very talented artist Kate Race, for all my beautiful covers and for sharing her knowledge of painting with me.

And to Pam Ahearn, who is everything an agent and a trusted friend ought to be. I am not certain what has meant more to me over the years . . . your confidence in me, your excellent advice, or your endless graciousness.

About the Author

Photo © 2011 BARBARA ROSER/ROSER PHOTOGRAPHY

Gerri Russell’s varied writing career includes stints as a broadcast journalist, magazine columnist, newspaper reporter, and technical writer and editor. Since deciding to follow her heart’s desire and become a romance novelist, she has won two Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Awards and an American Title II Award sponsored by RT Book Reviews. Gerri is best known for her adventurous and emotionally intense novels set in the Scottish Highlands, including the series The Brotherhood of the Scottish Templars and The Stones of Destiny. She lives in Bellevue, Washington, with her husband and children.