Bride of a Wicked Scotsman by Samantha James
First line: From out of the mists and magic steeped in time came a myth-a myth that was born on the lands of the people who came to be called the Clan McDonough.
The title of this book is a little misleading, but in an entertaining sense of misguidance. The heroine’s father sees an article in the newspaper regarding the Black Scotsman being nearby, and dies!
She is Irish and he is Scot. So, of course, they have nicknames they call each other: Irish and Scotsman. She has to find a way into his home where she can search for the Circle of Light that had been stolen from her family generations before to lift a curse on his family he never knew existed.
Setting him up at a masked ball, she drugs him and makes him think he took her virginity. He is furious, because he is forced to marry her. Only it’s a fake marriage (but he doesn’t know that). Pretty inventive, I must say. And entertaining.
You know he thinks she’s married him for his title and money, but then he’s confused when she won’t take anything from him (well, except for the silver she’s stolen to send back to her home to help feed her clan. Oh, and the money he’s told her about stashed in the bottom drawer of the desk.
Intrigued yet? You should be.
For: Readers who want a stubborn heroine who turns the head of a hot-headed Scots with no holds barred. - Kathy Wheeler