Author's Message

The idea for Secrets to Seducing a Scot came one night when I was watching re-runs of Sex and the City. The show revolves around Carrie Bradshaw, a New York columnist who attends fabulous parties, dresses to the height of fashion, and then writes about modern relationships for her local newspaper. The character is so clever in her observations: “When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I would buy Vogue instead of dinner. I felt it fed me more.”

So there I am, sitting in front of the TV, feeding on Entenmann’s chocolate chip cookies, and I began to wonder…what would it be like if a woman like Carrie Bradshaw were living in Regency England? A socialite who turned her knowledge of high fashion and high society into a highly popular newspaper column, setting London ablaze with her witticisms?

Sounded intriguing enough. But it was only a start. After all, a story of romance needs two people. So I began to wonder where this socialite, Serena Marsh, would find her Mr. Big. Sadistic writer that I am, I decided I couldn’t make it easy for her. Her Mr. Big would not be found in the ballrooms of London. She’d have to be plucked from her life of glitz and glamour, and find her special someone in the middle of nowhere.

Now, Serena’s father is an ambassador—an honorable man, but plagued by a weak heart. When the monarch calls on him to go to Scotland to quell a rising rebellion, he wants to do his duty for king and country. So he packs Serena up and sets out for the Highlands.

Serena, who considers London the nexus of the universe, must now leave her popular column and the sophistication of the city for the remote hinterland of the Highlands. Having a woman like Serena in a place like Scotland is like putting caviar on a Big Mac. It’s just not done. To make matters worse, these are troubled times, and she receives a threat on her life. It doesn’t faze her in the slightest, but her father becomes terrified for her safety. So he decides to hire a protector for her to make certain no harm comes to her. And the perfect man for the job is Malcolm Slayter.

Malcolm is a fugitive hunter for the Crown, and his fearsome appearance and battle skills make him the perfect protector for the English ambassador’s daughter. Sadly, he knows more about the violence and schemes of Scotsmen than any man alive. But even after he agrees to protect her, Serena wants nothing to do with him. He is brutish and unsophisticated, and damn him, he is also completely immune to her sway. She bristles under the restrictions that Malcolm puts upon her, and she can’t wait to leave the Highlands and return to her fashionable life in London. But Malcolm isn’t just dangerous-looking, he’s also dangerously good-looking, and it isn’t long before Serena begins to appreciate his battle-honed body and gruff Scottish ways. Malcolm is haunted by a pretty violent past, and Serena finds herself wanting to go beneath his scowl and somehow unclench his fists. And when his large, callused hands finally peel away the haute couture dress from her body—and her sense of propriety right along with it—Serena soon learns that there is no party in London quite as electrifying as a revolution in Scotland, and the only thing more intriguing than a man in a kilt…is a man out of one.

- Michelle Marcos