Mary Wine – How To Handle a Highlander – Guest Post & Review

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Description:
Moira Frazer is betrothed to a man who is old enough to be her father, but it’s her duty to her clan to marry him, and she’s determined to see this through…until she meets Gahan Sutherland.

Gahan knows this match is designed to start a feud between the clans, which is why he decides to stop the wedding. But when Moira awakens a passion within him that he never knew existed, he realizes that the outcome of this perilous situation will determine the future of his own happiness.

As trust and honor clash with forbidden attraction, manipulations, rivalries, and schemes will threaten to blow the Highlands sky high



Review:

How to Handle a Highlander is the 6th book in Mary Wine‘s Highlander series.  This is my first book by Wine, but I thought this worked well enough to read as a standalone.  How to Handle a Highlander is a historical romance, as well as a Highlander story.  Moira Fraser is our heroine, being considered a commoner by her family; she is forced by her evil half brother Bari,  to marry an old laird, in a deal for help to destroy the Sutherland family.   Moira is a sweet, likeable and pretty heroine, and despite her being treated beneath the rest of the family, she feels it is her responsibility to do what is necessary to help her clan.

Gahan Sutherland is our hero, and a hot hunky Highlander he is.  Gahan, who represents his clan, heads for the home of the Laird Achaius Matheson, to try and stop a clan war.  The Laird, who will marry Moira, also has his own agenda.  When Gahan sets his eyes on Moira, he is immediately attracted to her, and knows she is being forced to marry Achaius, who is a mean and scheming old man. Gahan at first feels sympathy for Moira, but over a short period, he becomes obsessive and protective of her, and even though she is now married to the Laird, they both respond to their sexual chemistry.  What they do not know is that the Laird anticipates this, and secretly plans to destroy the Frasers, with the exception of Moira, enabling him to take over the Fraser land, 

Within that plot, Moira’s half brother is out for revenge against the Sutherlands for killing his sister, who had tried to poison Gahan’s father. This story is filled with plots, betrayals, scheming relatives, and a romance between two people who find true love. 

I liked both Moira and Gahan, as they made a nice couple.  I did think that it was a bit unrealistic that the serious and dutiful Moira, who was promised to another man, would fall into bed with Gahan almost the first night she met him.   The story moved back and forth, as Gahan was stopped just about at every move to free Moira from her half brother’s shenanigans, as well as from the clutches of her husband.  A surprise twist happens half way through that creates more havoc, and the last third of the story is exciting and action packed.  It was a nice historical romance, with a quite a few steamy scenes. Will Gahan be able to save Moira?  Will they both have a life together?  Will the Sutherlands survive the plotting of the other clans?  You need to read this book to find out. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

Mary Wine has written over twenty novels that take her readers from the pages of history to the far reaches of space. Recent winner of a 2008 EPPIE Award for erotic western romance, her book LET ME LOVE YOU was quoted “Not to be missed…” by Lora Leigh, New York Times best-selling author.

When she’s not abusing a laptop, she spends time with her sewing machines…all of them! Making historical garments is her second passion. From corsets and knickers to court dresses of Elizabeth I, the most expensive clothes she owns are hundreds of years out of date. She’s also an active student of martial arts, having earned the rank of second degree black belt.

While you are here, don’t forget to take a peek at all her intoxicating novels and also say hello at her blog!

Good afternoon, thanks for having me over today. I’m really excited about my newest book, How to Handle a Highlander. This is book three in my Sutherlands but you can read it stand alone. I’ll let everyone in on a little secret, I just finished up book four in this book. It will release next summer.

How Do You Create a Hero?

Wow, that’s a question and a half. Now inside all of us, is a little girl who played princess. Even though some of those inner princesses were more Xena than Cinderella. I think the best part about the Romance gene is that there are so many different types of stories. You can find something that suits your idea of a perfect world.

When it comes to the hero, let’s face it girls, we want him yummy. There is no getting around that…hard….fact. But I don’t feel too guilty when I pass through my living room and there is my husband playing a video game and all the female characters are these incredibly scrumptious creatures.

But what makes a man a hero? That’s the part where the writer has to craft her character and sell him to the reader. There are certain traits that go with hero and defiantly ones that don’t. When I’m working on the first part of a story, that beginning, creation stage, I get a feel on that hero and where his is in his life. Why is he there and what is it about him that keep him from crossing the line into that ‘non-hero’ zone.

I always need my books to be part of the time they are in. In How to Handle a Highlander, I’m dealing with harsh realities. My heroine is set to marry an old man, she’ll be wife number four. For the time, it wasn’t unheard of. Marriage was for children, so older men often took bride young enough to provide those children.

No my hero knows that the union is going to unite two clans against his own. He wants to stop it but what makes him a hero is the fact that he’s got to find a way to intervene without just resorting to violence. He also notices that my heroine is not the problem, she’s stuck in the problem. That’s where I think he shines the most. When he notices that she needs his help.

No matter what sort of hero you desire, they’ve got to have integrity, be men of their word and willing to face the challenges of fate.

Cheers Everyone!

You can find me on Facebook, Website, Goodreads

How to Handle a Highlander Excerpt-

“Inspecting yer new possession?”

She recognized Gahan’s voice instantly. It was slightly unnerving how swiftly she identified him.

“Yer sister would have found it beneath her,” he added.

Gahan parted from the shadow of a doorway. The hall was farther behind her than she’d realized; the setting of the supper table was now only a dim buzz. A strange twist of excitement went through her belly, startling her. But it also left a bitter taste in her mouth, because she realized she preferred Gahan to her groom.

It was knowledge she could have done well without.

“Nae that I’d expect any less of any woman wedding such an old man,” Gahan informed her.

His tone was condescending at best, and it irritated her. He was her better. The fine weave of his kilt and the silver buttons running up the sides of his knee-high boots showed off just how much his father gave him. She should have kept her mouth shut, but her pride flared up and she propped her hand onto her hip.

“And will yer father give ye any choice when he contracts a bride for ye?” She questioned boldly “Or will ye turn yer nose up no matter who is depending upon ye to do yer duty? Like a spoiled child who knows naught of the way alliances keep a clan safe?”

His eyes narrowed. For a moment, it looked like he was considering what she said, almost as if she’d surprised him somehow.

“Nae if me duty includes making sure me kin can start a feud.”

“I have no such desire.” She shouldn’t snap at him but just couldn’t squelch the urge. “A contented man”—she had to stop to swallow the lump lodged in her throat—“is happy to stay at home.”

He studied her for a long moment, one that felt far longer than it really could have been. She felt like he was looking at her thoughts, his gaze cutting past her realistic reasons, to see her true feelings.

“So what is it that draws ye to a man old enough to be yer grandfather? The title? I suppose I can believe that. Yer sister was certainly enchanted by titles.”

“Half sister.” She paused, realizing that what Bari had so often used to insult her was something she prided herself on.

“And I’m bastard-born,” he replied softly. “Which changes nothing when it comes to me loyalties. Or, I doubt, yers.”

He was trying to intimidate her, but instead, his words somehow impressed her. There was something in his dark eyes that intrigued her, and she stared into the dark orbs, trying to decipher it.

He snorted at her. “Do nae try it.”

“Try what?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, and she suddenly realized just how close he was. There was no more than a pace between them now, and she jumped back, colliding with the hard stone of the wall. His lips twitched.

“I admit, ye play the innocent better then Sandra ever did, but ye’ll nae find it simple to seduce me.”

She straightened up, stepping away from the wall as her temper simmered. “Ye have no right to accuse me of nae being innocent. Or of trying to act like a harlot. Ye were the one waiting in the shadows.”

His lips parted to flash his teeth at her. “I knew ye had claws. Ye are a Fraser after all.”

There was a ring of triumph in his tone, which irritated her beyond every bit of self-discipline she had.

“What I have is the sense to know when I’m hearing naught but dribble. Son of an earl or nae, ye do nae have the right to insult me for obeying me laird. I do nae need the Matheson thinking I turned up me nose at their laird. Marriage is for forming alliances. I’m nae so selfish as to think an insult to a laird, like refusing his offer, will nae become a festering point of contention.”

But her voice lowered as she finished, and she had to push the last sentence past her lips because she just didn’t want to believe she was one day away from having to wed Achaius Matheson.

“And I was nae trying to seduce ye,” she added.

His grin remained arrogant and large, but he opened his arms, offering her a view of just how wide his chest was. “Ye were looking into me eyes.”

“And ye were looking into mine,” she countered. He was suddenly too large and the hallway far too compact to suit her. “Enough arrogance. Perhaps ye are accustomed to only the sort of women who like to seduce, but I am nae of that sort. I’m set to wed, and I do nae think it wise to be standing here acting like—”

“Like lovers flirting in the night shadows?”

His voice dipped low and sent a tingle along her limbs. There was a gleam of mischief in his dark eyes.

She shook her head, her tongue feeling frozen with shock.

“Nay, we are nae acting like lovers, or are ye arguing that we are nae lovers—yet?” He pressed forward another few inches.

Something snapped inside her. She gasped and went to shove him away from her.

“Ye obnoxious urchin!”

She flattened her hands against his chest, but he didn’t budge. She’d used a fair amount of strength, but Gahan Sutherland only chuckled at her attempt to move him.

“Ye have no right to accuse me of such indecent things. Maybe there are plenty who would remind me that ye’re me better and can say what ye will, but I will do me duty.”

He closed his hands around hers, but he didn’t remove them from his chest. Instead, he trapped her there with her hands upon him.

“What if I told ye I would nae be opposed to becoming yer lover? I promise ye will find me bed more to yer liking.”

Her mouth dropped open, and her temper exploded. She never really thought about what she was doing; her body simply refused to remain still. With a snarl, she sent her knee toward his unprotected groin. One moment he was chuckling at her, and the next, she felt her blow connecting.