Spotlight & Giveaway: The Highland Outlaw by Heather McCollum

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Heather McCollum to HJ!

Hi Heather and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Highland Outlaw!

 
Hi and happy autumn! Thank you for having me on Harlequin Junkie!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Scottish Highlands – late 17th century.
Shaw Sinclair is on a mission to win back his castle and save his clan. To do so, he needs to carry a newborn baby to the coast of Scotland to sail to France. When the child is handed off to him without a wet nurse, he becomes desperate to find someone to help him keep the babe alive. When he meets Alana Campbell at a Samhain Festival, and she helps him get the baby to eat, he kidnaps her to take care of the baby on the journey.

Since Alana is on her own mission to the east coast of Scotland, they form an uneasy truce. Knowing she will never forgive him for initially abducting her, Shaw fights the growing attraction between them. But hatred turns to passion as they dodge assassins’ bullets and pose as father and mother to the baby when a ruthless English captain tracks them down. Will the feelings that have grown between Shaw and Alana save them in the end when truths are revealed and lives balance on hollow oaths of loyalty.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

#1 – Good Lord. He tasted of whisky and sin, and she couldn’t get enough.

#2 – Convictions and truths, right and wrong, strategies and intricate plans dissolved away with the feel of her cheek in his palm and the gentle press of her lips on his.

#3 – “Ye are like wet fire and heaven mixed together,” he said at her ear, his words so full of passion and reverence that she shuddered.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Robert, the wolfhound named after Robert De La Salle, a French explorer, is a strong secondary character through the book.
• My 12yo daughter has always wanted me to dedicate one of my books to her. Because she loves dogs and animals as much as the heroine, Alana, I dedicated The Highland Outlaw to her. But she is still way too young to be allowed to read it!
• Shaw Sinclair (hero in this 17th century book) is the fictional descendant of the Sinclair brothers (16th century) in my next series, SONS OF SINCLAIR. While Shaw has lost Girnigoe Castle, his ancestors rule Northern Scotland from the mighty Girnigoe Castle a century before him.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Shaw is initially attracted to Alana because she is courageous and spunky, requesting to be allowed to throw her dagger in a contest at the Samhain festival. He notices that her breasts are full and hopes she is a nursing mother to feed the baby that he must keep alive. He finds out pretty fast that she isn’t, but when she helps him feed the wee lass anyway, he decides to take her with him.

Alana can’t stop glancing at the chiseled, brawny Highlander, even when her friend whispers to her that he is the enemy. When she sees him caring for a newborn, she can’t help but draw close and help. Cursing herself for her stupidity when he abducts her, she starts to realize that he is actually the hero and not the villain she thought him to be when he throws himself between her and an English soldier’s gun.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There are several scenes in THE HIGHLAND OUTLAW that had me laughing. Shaw has four other Sinclair warriors on the mission with him. They each have their own quirks, and one of them has decided that Alana is for him. Alistair is not too happy that Shaw and Alana have to act as husband and wife when they stay in a town overnight. When English troops arrive, Alistair tries to get Alana to come down with the baby from out her window. When he and Shaw are overheard arguing by the busybody innkeeper, Fiona, Alana has to make up a story of who Alistair is off the cuff. There is so much going on and so many hidden feelings that it makes me laugh every time I read it. Here is a tidbit of the scene:

“Fiona? What are you doing in my room?” Alana asked, her gaze moving between the woman and the two Sinclairs standing below them. What had they been discussing with the nosy woman listening?

Fiona crossed her arms. “And what are those two arguing over? It sounds like they are arguing over the bairn and ye. Yer husband, or perhaps not?” she said, her voice heavy with questions.

Alana’s spinning thoughts had been out of control since Shaw had kissed her outside with such tenderness. A whirling, bordering on panic, that wouldn’t slow down. She took a full inhale, hoping the breath would help her to think as she looked out the window. Little Rose had begun to stir and would start to cry for milk soon. There was no time for anything.

“He was my lover,” Alana blurted out, pointing to Alistair. Both men stared up at her, Alistair’s jaw dropping open. “He followed us here, thinking the babe is his.” She leaned slightly over the window sill, holding Rose against her. “Little George is not your babe. Now be gone before my husband runs you through.” She made a shooing motion with her hand.

“Ye bastard,” Shaw yelled, pulling back his fist and smashing it right into Alistair’s face.

“Good God!” Fiona yelled, hand pressed against her bosom as she nearly fell out the window watching the drama unfold.

“Get your arse out of this town before I slice ye open from your gullet to your jack,” Shaw continued.

Alistair wiped his lip that bled. “She can choose who she wants, even if the bairn is yours.” He held his fists before him as if ready to fight. Good God, indeed! What were they doing?

Readers should read this book….

Readers should read this book because it is a lot of fun! With strong secondary characters, an extremely important baby, touches of real history, and a hero and heroine who turn the flames of anger, hurt, and betrayal into an inferno of passion, it is not to be missed!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I have just finished writing the first draft of Book #1 in a new Highlander romance series set around the Sinclair clan of the 16th century. In the SONS OF SINCLAIR series, a deranged warlord raises his four sons to be the four biblical horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first book is about Cain Sinclair, Horseman of Conquest. Raised to take everything as a spoil or war, he must learn to give in order to win the greatest treasure of all – love. HIGHLAND CONQUEST is scheduled to release in April 2020.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: For US – signed print copy of Book #1, The Scottish Rogue and some fun Highlander swag. If winner is international – digital copies of Books #1 and #2 of The Campbells series.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: In THE HIGHLAND OUTLAW, there are five Sinclairs on this mission to save their clan, Shaw, the chief, and his four friends. Any of them could be heroes of their own stories. What makes an outstanding hero in your mind? Brawny good looks, a golden heart, a troubled backstory they must overcome, or some other characteristic?

 
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Excerpt from The Highland Outlaw:

“Holy God,” Alistair said, staring down at the soiled cloth as Alana rolled the infant out of it. Brown, clinging shite had leaked up the bairn’s back nearly to her neck.

Logan leaned over her with a grimace. “She is ill. Her shite looks different from before.”

Rabbie rushed over, his fingers fanned through his longish hair. “Bloody hell, it was yellow before.” He shook his head, his nose scrunched. “What can we do? The bairn is sick.”

Alana looked from one to the next, all of them, including Shaw, waiting for her pronouncement. “Will she die, then?” Shaw asked.

Alana huffed, dropping her head forward with the force of her exhale in dramatic annoyance. “If you change what you feed a babe, what comes out of a babe changes, too.” She used the cleanest part of the soiled clothes to wipe off most of the brown, stinking mess while the bairn cried. “’Tis perfectly normal for her cac to look brown on cow’s milk, mashed bread, and broth.”

“And stink like the foulness of death?” Rabbie said.

“She does not stink like death,” Alana said.

“As bad as a curdled, decaying corpse,” Alistair said, and Logan nodded in agreement.

“She does not,” Alana said.

“Or like Logan after a night of drinking whisky,” Rabbie said, a smile returning to his face.

Shaw dipped a finger into the water sitting in the small fire, which already felt warm to the touch. He brought it over for Alana to use. “We need to keep moving. Get her cleaned up as fast as ye can.” Alana met his gaze with a slight smugness. Her eyes were a glorious shade of green with brown flecks in them.

“You think my…Kerrick and the Roses are following? You are worried about them.”

My Kerrick? Was the Campbell warrior who had accompanied them to the festival courting Alana? Was he her Kerrick? Shaw had seen the man near Alana often but hadn’t seen him kiss her or even hold her hand. “They may be following,” he answered. “At a slower pace than your dog.” Her hound sat next to the blanket, bending its head low to sniff at the soiled wrappings. “I would rather not have to kill your Kerrick if he tries to stop us.”

She had returned her attention to the bairn, wiping her with warm water. The shite had spread all up her small back, coating her white skin. Her little limbs looked thin and without the chubbiness that he’d seen in older bairns. Alana sought out all the crevices, even the black stub on the bairn’s belly. “She is very young to still have the cord stump,” Alana murmured. Robert’s big black nose nudged close, sniffing at the bairn until Alana pushed his massive head away. “Go on,” she said.

“I saw that black bit when I changed her yesterday. What is it?” Rabbie asked, squatting down to get a better look. “It is hard and rough.”

“The vein that attached the babe to the mother on the inside. It is cut when the babe is born and usually falls off within the first three weeks of life,” she answered, cleaning around it while the bairn kicked impotently and fussed at the coolness. “She is so young and needs to be with her mother.”

“She could die with her mother,” Logan said, and Alistair knocked him in the shoulder with a balled fist. “Och,” Logan said, rubbing it.

“She needs to be warmed,” Shaw said, ignoring the questions in Alana’s eyes, and grabbed the satchel to yank out a change of bindings and swaddling clothes that had come with the infant.

“As soon as she is clean and dry,” Alana said, wiping down the bairn’s legs to her wee little feet, the toes on each one being no bigger than a swollen barley grain.

“Shouldn’t ye cover her…” Rabbie said, pointing down to her female anatomy.

Alana glanced up at him. “Or you could walk away so I can get this done quickly.”

Alistair shoved Rabbie, and the three men turned to meet Mungo as he led back the two horses. Mungo and Rabbie took the remaining horses for water, the wolfhound trotting after them.

Shaw watched Alana work with the bairn in silence. She kept her eyes turned down as she rinsed out the rag and washed her little back. “I would strike a bargain with you,” she said, glancing quickly at him and then back to her task.

“A bargain?” The woman had little with which to bargain.

“Yes,” she said, sitting back on her heels. She covered the bairn’s naked body, leaving her little feet out to finish. Alana’s chin rose slightly, her lush lips pursed. “I happen to need to go east toward St. Andrews, actually to Edinburgh, which is less than a day’s journey from where you are forcing me to ride.”

“The Campbells were planning to travel this way, too?” he asked.

“Yes, eventually, but I worry that they will be too slow, waiting for my brother to send troops.” Her nose wrinkled, and she let out a long exhale as if warring within herself about how much to reveal. When he didn’t respond, she lifted her gaze to his. “My mother is a prisoner at Edinburgh Castle. I just found out that she still lives, but I believe her to be failing. She might not survive another winter there, so I am going to free her.”

“From a fortified castle?” he asked. “Alone?”

“I plan to petition for her release first, but if it is not granted…” She tipped her nose higher, a look of fierce determination on her delicate features. “Then yes, I will find my way in and free her.” She didn’t seem like a lass lost to fantasy, so she must be desperate.

“What is your proposed bargain?” he asked, watching her closely.

Her shoulders dropped as if relief had melted away the tension holding her stiff, and she inhaled fully. “I will help keep the babe alive, without you needing to guard me every second and worry about me…slitting your throats or trying to tell the authorities in any town we happen upon…” She sat straighter, her slender neck exposed above her shawl. “And you will take me to Edinburgh as soon as we deliver the babe in St. Andrews.”

“So ye can free your mother? Alone?” Alana was exceedingly brave or delusional. Flustered, her shoulders raised in a shrug and then fell.

“If you help me in any way to free her there, then I will convince my brother and the rest of the Campbell clan not to hunt you down and slaughter you in retribution for taking me from the Samhain festival.”

They stared at one another for long seconds. The thought of battling Campbells actually filled Shaw with anticipation, not dread, so her veiled threat didn’t have the effect for which the lass was hoping. But having her willingly help them instead of the continued stiff silences and glares was enticing. Not that he thought she’d ever forgive him, but if he helped her save her mother, perhaps she wouldn’t wish for his painful death with each breath. And just maybe the guilt that had plagued him since the battle outside Stirling would stop eating away at his gut.

“Agreed,” he said. “But I speak only for myself. I will not order my men to help, but ye can ask them. Logan has a kindness that makes him want to rescue anyone who needs it. Alistair is always up for a mission that might lead to death, and Mungo usually follows him. Rabbie will likely help if ye smile at him when ye ask.”

She blinked, taking in his advice, and finally nodded. “It is agreed, then. I will help you, and you will help me.”

She looked back down at the bairn, who was making little circles with her lips as if she just realized that she had dominion over them. Her thin legs kicked out from the blanket, and Alana caught one of her feet to wipe it clean, taking up the second. Rubbing, she paused, leaning in, and scrubbed at the wee toes. “What is this?” she murmured, inspecting the digit.

Shaw couldn’t see what she was looking at. They’d only had the bairn for less than a day before they left the festival. Perhaps she had an odd birthmark? Alana bent down low, tipping her head to meet Shaw’s gaze. She swallowed, her soft-looking lips parting. She held the wee toe as the bairn whimpered. “Shaw,” she said. “This babe has been…branded.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Shaw Sinclair, chief of the outcast clan of Sinclairs of Caithness in northern Scotland, has made a deal with the devil. Despite his strength and lethal skills, he needs help — specifically from a woman — to accomplish his mission to bring a bairn to safety to the coast. When he meets the brave and beautiful Alana Campbell at a Samhain Festival, he decides she’s the one.

Alana Campbell is ready to show the world she’s just as skillful with a sgian dubh as any man. Attracting the attention of the brawny chief who coerces her to join him on his journey to the coast of Scotland gives her that very opportunity. Sparks flash between them as they’re forced to act as husband and wife to accomplish the deadly mission. However, when secrets threaten to tear them apart, they have to decide if their differences outweigh the reality of their feelings…
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Meet the Author:

Heather McCollum is an award-winning, historical romance writer. She currently has twenty published novels and is an Amazon Best Seller. She is a 2015 Readers’ Choice winner and a member of Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.

The ancient magic and rugged beauty of Great Britain entrances Ms. McCollum each time she visits. The country’s history and landscape have been a backdrop for her stories since she started writing.

When she is not creating vivid characters and settings, she spends her time educating women on the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer. She is a survivor and resides with her very own Highland hero and three spirited children in the wilds of suburbia on the mid-Atlantic coast.
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