Please join me in welcoming USA Today Bestselling Author May McGoldrick!
Meet May McGoldrick
USA Today
Bestselling Authors Nikoo and Jim wrote their first May McGoldrick romance
using historical figures that Jim researched while earning a PhD in
sixteenth-century Scottish and English literature. Nikoo, a mechanical
engineer, is a born storyteller. She is all about characters and feeling. Jim
is about action and sense of place. Together, they have crafted over forty
fast-paced, conflict-filled historical and contemporary novels and two works of
nonfiction under the pseudonyms May McGoldrick and Jan Coffey.
Their stories have touched the hearts and minds
of millions of readers all over the world. Their work has been translated into
over a dozen languages, and counting. Because of their success, they have been
frequent guests on local and national radio and television. They travel
regularly, speaking at writers’ conferences, libraries, classrooms, and book
group gatherings.
For the past decade, Nikoo and Jim have been
conducting workshops bringing 21st century collaboration and writing skills to
students and teachers.
These popular and prolific authors write
historical romance, suspense, mystery, and young adult novels. They are
four-time Rita Finalists and the winners of numerous awards for their writing,
including the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Daphne
DeMaurier Award, three NJRW Golden Leaf Awards, two Holt Medallions, and the
Connecticut Press Club Award for Best Fiction. Their work is included in the
Popular Culture Library collection of the National Museum of Scotland.
~ ~ ~
Blurbs:
HIGHLAND CROWN
THE ROYAL HIGHLANDER SERIES: Book 1
Scottish pride, persuasion, and passion…
The Radical War of 1820 is tearing Britain apart. In Scotland,
cries of liberty, equality, and fraternity ring out in the streets. In this new
series, three extraordinary women must find the courage in the Highlands to
fight for the future of a nation.
Inverness, 1820
Perched on the North Sea, this legendary town is a place where
Highland rebels and English authorities clash. Among the fray is a lovely young
widow who possesses rare and special gifts.
WANTED: Isabella Drummond
A true beauty and trained physician who has inspired longing and
mystery in a great many men, Isabella is being hunted by Englishmen and
Scottish rebels both. She’s escaped to the Highlands in search of survival.
FOUND: Cinaed Mackintosh
Cast from his home as a child, Cinaed is a fierce soul who
answers to nobody but himself. . .until Isabella saves his life—and adds more
risk to her own. Now, the only way Cinaed can keep her safe is to return to the
place from which he was banished. When the truth of his past comes out, what
will these two ill-fated lovers sacrifice to be together…forever?
HIGHLAND JEWEL
THE ROYAL HIGHLANDER SERIES: Book 2
Edinburgh, 1820
Scotland’s capital is rocked by angry protests in the wake of
the Napoleonic wars, and home to a young woman who will fight passionately for
her cause—and her heart’s desire.
A REBEL AT HEART
Maisie Murray’s sweet, docile exterior masks the courageous
spirit of a firebrand determined to champion women’s suffrage with like-minded
friends. But fighting for her principles has swept her directly into harm’s
way—and into the arms of a man she cannot resist.
A WARRIOR BY BLOOD
A trained officer with the Royal Highland Regiment, Niall
Campbell has spent his life serving the Crown. Battle-weary and searching for
peace, he can’t help but step in when his sister’s activism risks her life—and
leads him to Maisie. But unless Niall and Maisie can find a way to stand up to
the destructive forces that threaten to divide them, long-buried secrets and
political schemes are destined to stand in the way of the glorious love they’ve
found…
~ ~ ~
Where to find May McGoldrick:
~ ~ ~
Highland Jewel
Royal Highlander Series:
Book 2
Excerpt: CHAPTER 1
Dalmigavie Castle, the Highlands
August 1820
Far above jagged crags
and worn peaks, a hawk soared free, floating on the breeze beneath the pale
azure sky. Below, a glistening stream snaked through steep-sided glens,
protected by thick stands of tall pine. Above the flowing waters, an
impregnable stone fortress sat high on a rocky brae.
Dalmigavie Castle. Built
by a warrior clan, its thick grey walls and high towers had struck fear into
the hearts of the fiercest enemies for half a millennium. To the south and
east, the majestic mountains of the Scottish Highlands rose like an unbroken
line of ancient warriors, standing eternal guard. Beyond the forests to the
west, endless hills and valleys, impassable rivers, and the great loch that cut
the Highlands in two, kept the enemy at bay. And to the north, a single path
led from the sea, half a day distant. Ever since human feet trod this stony
soil, it had been a track that no enemy would dare attempt, for no army had
blood enough to spill on the rugged hillsides of the Highlands.
Dalmigavie Castle, the
perfect place to keep the dream of Scotland alive. A fortress to protect Cinaed
Mackintosh, the man called the “son of Scotland.”
Maisie Murray leaned over
the edge of the stone parapet of the ancient tower and stared to the south and
the range of mountains in the distance and thought of the world and the man
she’d left behind in Edinburgh. Niall Campbell.
Sadness, like a fist,
squeezed her heart. More than four months had passed since she’d last seen him.
Maisie would never forget their last day together in his rooms at Milne’s
Court. She loved him. He loved her. But later, his departing words put a
painful end to all of their dreams.
I’ll
not be coming back. You are free of the promises we made. You must forget
me.
Never. To forget him was
to forsake hope, to surrender all belief in tomorrow, to accept that she was to
be deprived of love for the rest of her life.
Maisie wondered where he
was now. Her heart ached with fear that he hadn’t survived the things he was
being forced to do. Not knowing what his mission was or where he had to go was
crushing. Tears threatened to fall, and she took a deep breath, filling her
lungs with the scent of pine and heather. Her eye was drawn to a hawk, wheeling
in the blue sky far above her.
The sounds of children
playing in the courtyard below mingled with the hammering of the smith at his
forge and pulled Maisie’s attention back to the life around her. This was her
new world. Dreaming of Niall and her old existence. She’d found her voice on
the streets of Edinburgh. She marched and protested and spoken out. Here, she
was still finding her way, but she was using the sharp, concise power of the
written word to fight for her cause. She was writing articles and letters that
were finding publishers in Edinburgh and Inverness.
The sound of footsteps
running up the stone steps behind her drew Maisie to the top of the stairwell.
It was Morrigan. The two of them had arrived at Dalmigavie together. Sisters,
not by blood, but by choice and by family relations.
“They’re here.” Morrigan’s
long, dark hair glinted in the sunlight.
“Who is here?”
Breathless, she pushed by
Maisie and moved to the parapet. “The men coming from the Borders. The ones
that everyone has been waiting for.”
Maisie stood beside her as she leaned out,
scanning the courtyard. For days, the air had been crackling with a mixture of
threat and expectation. British forces were after the son of Scotland. The
threat of an attack on the castle or the possibility of an assassination
attempt on Cinaed’s life had kept everyone on edge. At the same time, a
delegation was coming from the Borders. Maisie had no idea what the arrival of
those people meant, or what they were to bring with them. But the Mackintosh
clan folk were talking about the messengers as if they were messiahs.
“Look.” Morrigan pointed.
Maisie leaned over the
edge and saw the group approaching the entry to the Great Hall.
Beneath her, Cinaed
stepped out into the courtyard, and Blair Mackintosh crossed the open space to
take his usual protective place beside him. Searc Mackintosh, a cousin to the
laird, led the three visitors, and the clan chief was speaking with one of
them, a burly, well-dressed gentleman.
Maisie’s gaze was
instantly drawn to one of the other newcomers. The wide brim of his hat shadowed
his face, but there was something about the confident steps, the motion of his
hand as he talked. The broad shoulders. His impressive height. Awareness
flashed through her, and Maisie’s heart skipped a beat.
It couldn’t be. She
walked along the edge of the tower, following the men’s steps below. Morrigan’s
voice was silenced by the loud drumming of Maisie’s heart. She stared, afraid
to blink. Afraid he would disappear. It couldn’t be.
The men stopped before
entering the keep. The visitor pulled off his hat, and Maisie forgot to
breathe.
“What’s wrong?” Morrigan
clutched her arm. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
She opened her mouth to
speak, but no words emerged.
Niall was here.
Recognition triggered a
rush of emotion. Spinning on her heel, Maisie raced across the top of the
tower, leaving Morrigan calling after her. In an instant, she was running down
the dark stone stairwell, made even darker by the bright sunlight she’d left
behind.
Niall was here. That
meant his sister Fiona must be free. Now he’d come for her. Their promises to
each other were still alive. He loved her.
At the foot of the steps, Maisie ran along the
corridors to the Great Hall, searching for them. Her doubts and fears were
gone. She was again the same woman who’d run through the streets of Edinburgh
that winter day, a lifetime ago, wearing no boots or coat, holding her heart in
her hand, offering herself to him body and soul.
They weren’t in the Great
Hall.
“The visitors? Where are
they?” she asked a Mackintosh fighter she’d seen shadowing the group.
“The laird’s study,
miss.”
She hurried to the closed
door. Voices drifted through. Niall’s deep voice. The last of her doubts
disappeared. Joy basked her with its warmth. She raised her fist, ready to
knock.
“Maisie. What’s wrong?”
She jumped at the sound
of her sister’s voice. Isabella stood few steps away, silhouetted by the light
coming from the courtyard. Maisie blinked. A chill prickled down her back. A
dark reality re-emerged, choking her. Her sister. The physician. The woman
who’d sacrificed so much on all of their behalves. Her family. Maisie’s eyes
burned. Her throat closed. Isabella, for the first time, was living as she
chose to live, and not acting because of what she saw as her duty.
“Maisie?” She approached.
“Visitors.”
“I heard the news too.
Finally, they’re here. Everyone is relieved. Men we can trust.”
Trust.
Men we can trust.
Her
sister Isabella. Niall’s sister
Fiona. What Maisie would do for Isabella, Niall would do for Fiona. Isabella
was free. Fiona was a prisoner.
Tears brimmed over. His
words the last night they were together were back. His life wasn’t his own.
“No!”
With anguish squeezing
every bit of air from her chest, Maisie shoved the door open and entered.
All conversation in the
laird’s study halted, and every head swiveled toward her. But Maisie’s eyes
were on only one person. Niall. He stood up. The blood drained from his face.
His handsome face was a
watery image as her tears fell relentlessly. She loved him, but she would let
him go. He was her hope, but she would take misery.
“You can’t do this. I
won’t let you.”
Maisie crossed the room
and faced Niall.
“I know why you’re here.” Words caught in
her throat, but she forced them out. She wouldn’t remain silent. She couldn’t.
“Cinaed Mackintosh is Isabella’s husband. I can’t let you do it. I won’t let
you kill him.”
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