Kiss the Bride (77 page)

From the desk of Paula Quinn

 

Dear Reader,

 

 

I’m so excited to tell you about my latest in the Children of the Mist series, CONQUERED BY A HIGHLANDER. I loved introducing you to Colin MacGregor in
Ravished by a Highlander
and then meeting up with him again in
Tamed by a Highlander
, but finally the youngest, battle-hungry MacGregor gets his own story. And let me tell you all, I enjoyed every page, every word.

Colin wasn’t a difficult hero to write. There were no mysteries complicating his character, no ghosts or regrets haunting him from his past. He was born with a passion to fight and to conquer. Nothing more. Nothing less. He was easy to write. He was a badass in
Ravished
and he’s a hardass now. My dilemma was what kind of woman would it take to win him? The painted birds fluttering about the many courts he’s visited barely held his attention. A warrior wouldn’t suit him any better than a wallflower would. I knew early on that the Lady who tried to take hold of this soldier’s heart had to possess the innate strength to face her fiercest foe… and the tenderness to recognize something more than a fighter in Colin’s confident gaze.

I found Gillian Dearly hidden away in the turrets of a castle overlooking the sea, her fingers busy strumming melodies on her beloved lute while her thoughts carried
her to places far beyond her prison walls. She wasn’t waiting for a hero, deciding years ago that she would rescue herself. She was perfect for Colin. She also possessed one other thing, a weapon so powerful, even Colin found himself at the mercy of it.

A three-year-old little boy named Edmund.

Like Colin, I didn’t intend for Edmund Dearly or his mother to change the path of my story, but they brought out something in the warrior—whom I thought I knew so well—something warm and wonderful and infinitely sexier than any swagger. They brought out the man.

For me, nothing I’ve written before this book exemplifies the essence of a true hero more than watching Colin fall in love with Gillian
and
with her child. Not many things are more valiant than a battle-hardened warrior who puts down his practice sword so he can take a kid fishing or save him from bedtime monsters… except maybe a mother who defiantly goes into battle each day in order to give her child a better life. Gillian Dearly was Edmund’s hero and she quickly became mine. How could a man like Colin
not
fall in love with her?

Having to end the Children of the Mist series was bittersweet, but I’m thrilled to say there will be more MacGregors of Skye visiting the pages of future books. Camlochlin will live on for another generation at least. And not just in words but in art. Master painter James Lyman has immortalized the home of our beloved Mac-Gregors in beautiful color and with an innate understanding of how the fortress should be represented. Visit
PaulaQuinn.com
to order a print of your own, signed and numbered by the artist.

Until we meet again, to you mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers,
and friends, who put yourselves aside for someone you love, I shout Huzzah! Camlochlin was built for people like you.

 

Find her at Facebook

 

Twitter @Paula_Quinn

 

From the desk of Jill Shalvis

 

Dear Reader,

 

 

From the very first moment I put Mysterious Cute Guy on the page, I fell in love. There’s just something about a big, bad, sexy guy whom you know nothing about that fires the imagination. But I have to be honest: When he made a cameo in
Head Over Heels
(literally a walk-on role only; in fact I believe he only gets a mention or two), I knew nothing about him. Nothing. I never intended to, either. He was just one of life’s little (okay, big, bad, and sexy) mysteries.

Then my editor called me. Said the first three Lucky Harbor books had done so well that they’d like three more, please. And maybe one of the heroes could be Mysterious Cute Guy.

It was fun coming up with a story to go with this enigmatic figure, not to mention a name: Ty Garrison. More fun still to give this ex-Navy SEAL a rough, tortured, bad-boy past and a sweet, giving, good-girl heroine
(Mallory Quinn, ER nurse). Oh, the fun I had with these two: a bad boy trying to go good, and a good girl looking for a walk on the wild side. Hope you have as much fun reading their story, LUCKY IN LOVE.

And then, stick around. Because Mallory’s two

Chocoholics-in-crime partners, Amy and Grace, get their own love stories in July and August with
At Last
and then
Forever and a Day.

Happy Reading!

 

 

http://www.jillshalvis.com

 

http://www.facebook.com/jillshalvis

 

From the desk of Lori Wilde

 

Dear Reader,

 

 

Ah ,June! Love is in the air, and it’s the time for weddings and romance. With KISS THE BRIDE, you get two romantic books in one,
There Goes the Bride
and
Once Smitten, Twice Shy.
Both stories are filled with brides, bouquets, and those devastatingly handsome grooms. But best friends Delaney and Tish go through a lot of ups and downs on their path to happily ever after.

For those of you hoping for a June wedding of your
own, how do you tell if your guy is ready for commitment? He might be ready to pop the question if…

 

• Instead of saying “I” when making future plans, he starts saying “we.”
  
• He gives you his ATM pass code.
  
• He takes you on vacation with his family.
  
• Out of the blue, your best friend asks your ring size.
  
• He sells his sports car/motorcycle and says he’s outgrown that juvenile phase of his life.
  
• He opens a gold card to get a higher spending limit—say, to pay for a honeymoon.
  
• When you get a wedding invitation in the mail, he doesn’t groan but instead asks where the bride and groom got the invitations printed.
  
• He starts remembering to leave the toilet seat down.
  
• When poker night with the guys rolls around, he says he’d rather stay home and watch
  The Wedding Planner
  with you.
  
• He becomes your dad’s best golfing buddy
  

 

I hope you enjoy KISS THE BRIDE.

Happy reading,

 

 

loriwilde.com

 

Facebook
http://facebook.com/lori.wilde

 

Twitter @LoriWilde

 

From the desk of Laurel McKee

 

Dear Reader,

 

 

When I was about eight years old, someone gave me a picture book called
Life in Victorian England.
I lost the book in a move years ago, but I still remember the gorgeous watercolor illustrations. Ladies in brightly colored hoopskirts and men in frock coats and top hats doing things like walking in the park, ice-skating at Christmas, and dancing in ballrooms. I was completely hooked on this magical world called “the Victorian Age” and couldn’t get enough of it! I read stuff like
Jane Eyre, Little Women,
and
Bleak House,
watched every movie where there was the potential for bonnets, and drove my parents crazy by saying all the time, “Well, in the Victorian age it was like this…”

As I got older and started to study history in a more serious way, I found that beneath this pretty and proper facade was something far darker. Darker—and a lot more interesting. There was a flourishing underworld in Victorian England, all the more intense for being well hidden and suppressed. Prostitution, theft, and the drug trade expanded, and London was bursting at the seams thanks to changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The theater and the visual arts were taking on a new life. Even Queen Victoria was not exactly the prissy sourpuss everyone thinks she was. (She and Albert had nine children, after all—and enjoyed making them!)

I’ve always wanted to set a story in these Victorian
years, with the juxtaposition of what’s seen on the surface and what is really going on underneath. But I never came up with just the right characters for this complex setting. The inspiration came (as it so often does for me, don’t laugh) from clothes. I was watching my DVD of
Young Victoria
for about the fifth time, and when the coronation ball scene came on, I thought, “I really want a heroine who could wear a gown just like that…”

And Lily St. Claire popped into my head and brought along her whole family of Victorian underworld rakes. I had to run and get out my notebook to write down everything Lily had to tell me. I loved her from that first minute—a woman who created a glamorous life for herself from a childhood on the streets of the London slums. A tough, independent woman (with gorgeous clothes, of course) who thinks she doesn’t need anyone—until she meets this absolutely yummy son a duke. Too bad his family is the St. Claire family’s old enemy…

I hope you enjoy the adventures of Lily and Aidan as much as I have. It was so much fun to spend some time in Victorian London. Look for more St. Claire trouble to come.

In the meantime, visit my website at
http://laurelmckee.net
for more info on the characters and the history behind the book.