Spotlight & Giveaway: The Lord’s Highland Temptation by Diane Gaston

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Diane Gaston to HJ!

Hi Diane and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Lord’s Highland Temptation!

 
I am delighted to be here!
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

The Lord’s Highland Temptation is about a guilt-ridden, dissipated and desolate English army captain, Lucas Johns-Ives, who is rescued from the brink of death by Mairi Wallace, the oldest daughter of a Scottish baron. Even though she is wary and hostile towards him, Lucas resolves to repay her for nursing him back to health by helping the hard-working, selfless Mairi keep her father’s financially strapped estate afloat. Because he offers to pretend to be the family butler when important guests arrive, Mairi assumes he is of the servant class even though Lucas is really the heir to an English earldom. As he and Mairi work together to save the family from ruin and Lucas falls deeply in love with her, keeping this secret becomes more problematic. Mairi has a secret of her own. Six years ago she was a victim of a sexual assault and trusting any man, even the handsome, dependable Lucas, is difficult. Even though she is drawn closer and closer to him, there is no future for a baron’s daughter and a butler. And, worse, she may be forced to marry a horrible man.
 

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

Early in the book, Lucas is still feverish and barely conscious and Mairi rattles on to him about why he should fight to live. In so doing, she shows how she convinced herself to live after her trauma.

‘You must not die, you know,’ she told him. ‘Not after Niven and Davina (Mairi’s brother and sister) saved you. It would hurt them greatly to think their good deed had such a terrible result. They are so very young, you see. Too young to know how difficult living can be. It would hurt them badly. So you must not die.’
He shook his head back and forth, as if he’d heard her.
‘Do not disagree with me, sir!’ she went on. ‘If they had not come upon you, you would have got your wish.’ She yawned. Talking helped her stay awake as well. ‘You owe them your life.’
To her surprise he turned towards her and opened his eyes. They still looked as feverish as ever.
‘Should have left me,’ he murmured.
‘And have your death on their consciences?’ she countered. ‘You cannot wish that on them.’
His expression turned even more bleak. ‘Should be me to die,’ he rasped. ‘Do not want to live.’
She leaned closer. ‘Listen to me! Such a feeling passes. I know. You must live for Niven and Davina’s sakes. Mr Grassie thinks you are some sort of soldier. If so, you should fight now to live, just as you would do in battle.’
Whether he heard her, she could not say. ‘Thought you were an angel. Thought I was already dead.’
No. She was definitely not an angel, not despoiled as she was. ‘You must fight to stay alive.’ As she had. She’d fought her attacker, but he’d overpowered her. She’d also fought her own death wish. And won.
‘Fight,’ he said so softly she was uncertain she’d heard him.
She went on, trying to push away those despairing times. ‘You are not the only one, you know, who must fight to live. Or the only one who has regrets.’
‘Regret,’ he repeated.
She went on. ‘You may not realise it, but there will be ways you are still needed. There are people who will suffer if not for your help. You must simply endure and persevere.’
She was sitting close so he could hear her. He reached over and grasped her hand. Her impulse was to pull away, but if he needed that small comfort, who was she to deny it to him?
‘Angel,’ he murmured.
His eyes closed again and soon he slept as fitfully as before.

What inspired this book?

Early in the book, Lucas is still feverish and barely conscious and Mairi rattles on to him about why he should fight to live. In so doing, she shows how she convinced herself to live after her trauma.

‘You must not die, you know,’ she told him. ‘Not after Niven and Davina (Mairi’s brother and sister) saved you. It would hurt them greatly to think their good deed had such a terrible result. They are so very young, you see. Too young to know how difficult living can be. It would hurt them badly. So you must not die.’
He shook his head back and forth, as if he’d heard her.
‘Do not disagree with me, sir!’ she went on. ‘If they had not come upon you, you would have got your wish.’ She yawned. Talking helped her stay awake as well. ‘You owe them your life.’
To her surprise he turned towards her and opened his eyes. They still looked as feverish as ever.
‘Should have left me,’ he murmured.
‘And have your death on their consciences?’ she countered. ‘You cannot wish that on them.’
His expression turned even more bleak. ‘Should be me to die,’ he rasped. ‘Do not want to live.’
She leaned closer. ‘Listen to me! Such a feeling passes. I know. You must live for Niven and Davina’s sakes. Mr Grassie thinks you are some sort of soldier. If so, you should fight now to live, just as you would do in battle.’
Whether he heard her, she could not say. ‘Thought you were an angel. Thought I was already dead.’
No. She was definitely not an angel, not despoiled as she was. ‘You must fight to stay alive.’ As she had. She’d fought her attacker, but he’d overpowered her. She’d also fought her own death wish. And won.
‘Fight,’ he said so softly she was uncertain she’d heard him.
She went on, trying to push away those despairing times. ‘You are not the only one, you know, who must fight to live. Or the only one who has regrets.’
‘Regret,’ he repeated.
She went on. ‘You may not realise it, but there will be ways you are still needed. There are people who will suffer if not for your help. You must simply endure and persevere.’
She was sitting close so he could hear her. He reached over and grasped her hand. Her impulse was to pull away, but if he needed that small comfort, who was she to deny it to him?
‘Angel,’ he murmured.
His eyes closed again and soon he slept as fitfully as before.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

I took some characteristics from My Man Godfrey. My hero was dissipated and hiding who he was like the movie Godfrey, but I had to find other reasons which made more sense in the time period—like the Battle of Waterloo. My heroine needed to be sad and discontented, like the movie Cordelia, but I wanted her to be more tortured. What could be worse for her than a sexual assault?

What was your favorite scene to write?

I liked writing the scenes from the Scottish countryside, because I took the setting from my own memories of Scotland. Last September, I traveled to Scotland with my friend Kristine Hughes Patrone’s Number One London Tours. We took a safari tour up the mountains around Blair Castle and viewed the raw, wild unforgettable beauty of Scotland.

If they’d followed the directions correctly, this was the River Tilt of which the ghillie had spoken. The river was like a blue ribbon threading through the landscape. On one side the mountain, brushed with shades of brown and gold, rose almost straight up, like a wall. Dotted here and there on the mountainside were the red deer, the stags majestic with their crowns of antlers. These were the animals the gentlemen were hunting today and their dignified beauty made Mairi hope they all escaped the hunter’s shot.

What was the most difficult scene to write?

My hero spends the first part of the book feverish and insensible, hardly acting heroic. It was a challenge to keep him strong and appealing while he was barely conscious.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

The Lord’s Highland Temptation is a bit of a departure from my other books. It stands alone and I usually write books in a series. I’ve also never set a book entirely in Scotland, but, after my trip last year, I was determined to bring that experience to life again. Most of my other books are a bit sexier, but it was impossible to get these two characters in bed together, given their situation and conflict. But, if you like this book, you will probably like my others! It is similar in tone and characterization.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

Three things, really. One, that secrets are destructive to relationships (even if they make for good conflict in Romance novels!) Two—and this is very important—that recovery from trauma is possible and often comes by helping others. Three, we are not defined by the bad things that happen to us and they do not affect our worth. We should never stop loving ourselves, no matter what. Sometimes, though, it is by loving another person and receiving their love that makes this clear to us.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Actually, I am taking a little break from writing, but for a happy reason. My daughter is getting married in October! So you might say I am working on her “happily ever after.” Luckily, though, Harlequin wants more books from me and I should have a new release by the end of 2020. I have no idea what that book will be.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I am happy to give away one paperback copy of The Lord’s Highland Temptation to US or international readers.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Any ideas for what sort of book I should write in 2020? What kinds of Regency romance plots to you like the best?

 
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Excerpt from The Lord’s Highland Temptation:

‘Oh, dear!’ Dunburn (Mairi’s father) shot to his feet.
Lucas stood as well. ‘Bad news, sir?’
‘Oh, dear. Oh, dear. I must speak with Lady Dunburn right away.’ Dunburn gave Lucas no heed and simply left the room. ‘Jane! Jane!’ Lucas heard him call.
He and Erwin followed Dunburn into the hall.
Lady Dunburn, followed by Miss Wallace (Mairi) and Davina (the younger sister), came rushing down from the floor above. Miss Wallace locked gazes with Lucas and frowned.
‘What is it, Rory?’ her mother asked. ‘What has happened?’
‘A messenger from Lord Crawfurd—’ Dunburn said.
‘Oh, no!’ she cried. ‘Has something happened to Niven (Mairi’s brother)? My poor Niven?’
‘No. No. Nothing like that.’ Her husband gulped. ‘They are bringing Niven home tomorrow and Niven has invited them to spend the night rather than stop at an inn on their way to Lord Oxmont’s.’
‘Spend the night?’ Lady Dunburn cried. ‘Who is coming to spend the night?’
‘Lord and Lady Crawfurd,’ her husband said in exasperation. ‘And their son.’
‘We cannot take guests.’ Miss Wallace, still standing on the stairs, spoke with finality.
Her parents ignored her.
‘What will we do?’ wailed her mother. ‘They will certainly see how it is here. Everyone will know.’
‘We must contrive something,’ Dunburn said.
They seemed heedless to their audience—their daughters, their footman and Lucas, a virtual stranger to them.
Miss Wallace raised her voice. ‘Send a return message that we cannot accommodate them.’
Lady Dunburn glared at her husband. ‘I told you to hire more servants! I told you we must have a butler. What will they think that we do not have a butler?’
‘I have tried,’ Dunburn shot back. ‘The agency writes that they have no one to send.’
In these times of high unemployment? That seemed unlikely.
‘Please do not quarrel!’ Davina cried.
Lady Dunburn paid no attention to her either. ‘You ought to have insisted,’ she addressed her husband. ‘At least to hire a butler.’
Miss Wallace broke in. ‘The agency did not send a butler because we cannot pay for one.’
Both her parents whirled on her.
Her mother’s eyes shot daggers. ‘Mairi!’
‘Hold your tongue, girl!’ her father scolded.
Davina whimpered. Miss Wallace flushed and her hand gripped the banister. Lucas hated seeing her distress.
He stepped forward. ‘I could help.’
Miss Wallace’s eyes darted to him.
He glanced back to her. ‘I could masquerade as your butler. I have knowledge enough of the role to pass muster.’ He’d grown up with Burton as his family’s butler. He knew enough of what a butler must do.
Miss Wallace’s eyes widened. Her parents turned to him as if he’d plucked them from the very gates of hell.
‘Could you do that, Lucas?’ Dunburn had already fallen into calling him by what they supposed was his family name, which was how a butler would be addressed.
‘I can try,’ he replied.
‘You are the Englishman, are you not?’ Lady Dunburn had not appeared to take notice of him before this. ‘You would take the position of butler for us?’
‘While you have guests.’ He preferred the manual labour, the physical exertion which seemed like a fitting penance, but he could do this for the people who had saved his wretched life.
Davina clapped her hands. ‘This is wonderful!’
Lady Dunburn tapped her finger on her cheek. ‘You will need clothes.’
He wore his oldest country clothes, made shabbier by his weeks of dissipation. He had no doubt they thought him a man of simple means.
‘Of course he will need clothes!’ Dunburn’s voice turned cheerful.
Lady Dunburn turned to her eldest daughter. ‘Mairi, you will find some clothes for…for…’ She did not recall his name.
‘Call me Lucas, ma’am.’ He spoke in tones like Burton might have done.
‘Lucas!’ She beamed.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A soldier burdened by guilt…
…to the future Earl of Foxgrove?
Captain Lucas Johns-Ives is injured in the same battle that killed his brother. Haunted by loss, Lucas is saved by Mairi Wallace. In this Highland idyll, masquerading as her family’s butler, Lucas can avoid the responsibilities of becoming the new earl. He’s tempted by Mairi’s sweetness—but to win her hand, he must face his demons and claim his noble birthright…

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Meet the Author:

Diane Gaston is the RITA award-winning author of Historical Romance for Harlequin Historical and Mills and Boon, with books that feature the darker side of the Regency. Formerly a mental health social worker, she is happiest now when deep in the psyches of soldiers, rakes and women who don’t always act like ladies.
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