Here's a small seasonal gift ~ a little taster of my latest book!
Matho and Meg Douglas meet when she rides into Stirling thinking how best to befriend the Dowager Queen, Marie de Guise. He and his friend Harry Wharton are plotting how best to kidnap the Dowager's infant daughter, Mary.
"Riding into Stirling, Meg eyed Broad Street with a calculating eye, but
decided it was not a place she would choose to live. A cheerful crowd, jostling
for a view of the gallows, surged about the open space between the Mercat Cross
and the grim old Tolbooth. A hanging must be imminent. Her escort closed
protectively around her and forced a way through to the top of the hill.
Both her destination and the castle came into view at the same time. Meg
caught her breath at the sight of the Great Hall, pale as day-old cream in the
October light, shining like a beacon against the darker stone of the older
castle buildings.
‘You there! Shift yer hide!’ The sharp order from her Serjeant snagged
her attention. He had halted his horse and glared at two men sitting on the
perimeter wall surrounding Douglas House. The taller of the two slid off the
wall and disappeared in the direction of Broad Street before she had time to
glimpse his face. When she looked at the other man, her heart gave a single,
painful bound.
Thomas!
She blinked, and found she’d raised a gloved hand to her throat. Her
heart thudded light and fast in her chest. Like Thomas, this man’s skin had
been coloured by wind and sun, and his hair held the same dark-red fire of
beech leaves. Yet Thomas Howard had been dead these six years. When the fellow
slid from the wall, she realised the resemblance was no more than a trick of
the light.
He glared at her little company as they rode by. Such insolence! His torn sheepskin and rough, darned hose labelled him as farm labourer in town for the day. She raised
her nose in the air. He stiffened, and drew his heavy
brows together. With a snort of disgust, he turned and walked toward the town.
She stared after him. The tilt of his head and the lithe grace of his
walk were so reminiscent of Thomas. Shave this stranger, dress him in velvet,
satin and jewels, and the likeness would be remarkable.
Turning in the saddle, she faced Douglas House and rode into the
courtyard without registering the recently refurbished dormer windows and
freshly carved stone griffons that adorned the roofline."
Check out the reviews on Amazon:
There used to be a button on this blog for e-followers. I never found out what it did, could find no explanation. It has been there a long time, but about ten days ago I decided that I would clean up my blog prior to inserting the "subscribe to my newsletter" button. So I deleted the efollowers button.