Tuesday Teaser & Intro: The Scot Beds His Wife

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Synopsis ~ The Scot Beds His Wife

Gavin St. James, Earl of Thorne, is a notorious Highlander and an unrelenting Lothario who uses his slightly menacing charm to get what he wants—including too many women married to other men. But now, Gavin wants to put his shady past behind him…more or less. When a fiery lass who is the heiress to the land he wishes to possess drops into his lap, he sees a perfectly delicious opportunity…

A marriage most convenient

Samantha Masters has come back to Scotland, in a pair of trousers, and with a whole world of dangerous secrets from her time spent in the Wild West trailing behind her. Her only hope of protection is to marry—and to do so quickly. Gavin is only too willing to provide that service for someone he finds so disturbingly irresistible. But even as danger approaches, what begins as a scandalous proposition slowly turns into an all-consuming passion. And Gavin discovers that he will do whatever is necessary to keep the woman he has claimed as his own…

Prologue

Ravencroft Keep, Wester Ross, Scotland

The boy they called Thorne lost his virginity at almost twelve years of age. He’d lost his innocence long before that. So young, in fact, it never occurred to him to miss it.

Chapter 1

Gairloch, Wester Ross, Scotland

Autumn 1880 Twenty-four years later

“So it’s true. The Earl of Thorne made a deal with the devil.” The unique Scots-Irish brogue slid through the night like a sharp dirk through supple skin.

Even on the Sannda Mhòr, the wide swath of beach leading down to Strath Bay, Gavin St. James recognized the deceptively light footfalls of the large man behind him before he’d spoken.

Teasers

Well. Shit. Not two minutes off the train and she’d already stepped in a steaming pile of sedition. [Loc 682]

“I wouldn’t wish marriage to you on my worst enemy. No one deserves a lifetime of nothing but arduous lessons in disappointed expectations.” [Loc 1778]

“Hand me your knife.” She held her hand behind her to her husband. When one didn’t appear in her palm, she glanced back to see what the problem was.

A congregation of narrow-eyed Highlanders crossed their arms above her in a choreographed show of resistance.

“What?” Was it something she said?

“It’s called a dirk, lass,” Gavin stated seriously. “And a man doesna just hand it over.” [Loc 4118]

Would you keep reading?

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