The Bodyguard
THE BODYGUARD
Dell | March 2008 | ISBN-13: 978-0-4402-4474-5
new chapters & new ending
Dell | April 1998 | ISBN 0-440-22377-6
Delta | April 2006 | ISBN 0-385-339801
When the tall, rugged stranger stepped out of the shadows and rescued her from a fate worse than death, Katerine MacKinnon knew she had found her bodyguard. With his steely arms and reckless courage, he would shield her from her clansmen, who refused to accept her as laird, and from the hated Duke of Blackthorne, who controlled her family's lands. As her desire for the mysterious man who was constantly by her side, she had no idea that she was falling in love with the enemy himself . . .
Author comments...
If you've read AFTER THE KISS, you've already met the hero of THE BODYGUARD. Alex Wharton, Duke of Blackthorne. You know that he spent a year in Scotland, where he had amnesia, and that he was tricked into marriage by a clever Scottish witch who held him captive for thirty days in a dungeon. You also know he arrives home wearing a kilt, wanting a divorce, but happier than he's ever been in his life.
A year ago, I was confident I could easily fill in the blanks Alex had left in his story. But Alex and Kitt--Lady Katherine, the new Laird of Clan MacKinnon--had ideas of their own. Alex became Kitt's bodyguard, and I went along for the ride!
THE BODYGUARD is special because it's my first book set in Scotland and my first book in which a character has amnesia, both of which made writing a challenge. I've never been to Scotland, but the thought of Highland mists and heather growing on a hill, tartan plaids and bagpipes, and men in kilts, all make something inside me quiver. I sent friends traveling in Scotland this past summer to the bookstores in Edinburgh to root out research materials, and interviewed a friend whose mother is a genuine Scots lady to make Scotland come alive for the reader--and for me.
Writing a character with amnesia was a lot more difficult than I imagined. Would a man who can't remember who he is act in character with who he was? How much of the hero's day to day experiences should I have him remember? Of course he'd know grass was grass and the sky was the sky, but would he know if he'd ever made love to a woman?
THE BODYGUARD is the third historical romance in my "Captive Hearts" series, which also includes the bestselling CAPTIVE and AFTER THE KISS. THE BODYGUARD also introduces readers to the future mates for those mischievous twins, Regina and Rebecca from AFTER THE KISS. They'll be featured in the next book in the series.
In the following scene from THE BODYGUARD Kitt is visiting the Earl of Carlisle, a potential suitor, whom she hopes to marry in order to save her clan, and Alex--jealous and disapproving--has come along as her bodyguard.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Welcome to my home, Lady Katherine," the Earl of Carlisle said.
Kitt curtsied as the earl bowed. "Thank you, my lord. May I introduce my bodyguard, Alex Wheaton."
Kitt saw the astonishment on the earl's face, turned to discover what had put it there, and saw what the earl must have seen--the power, the grace of movement, the absolute authority in Alex's bearing. And, of course, the antagonism on his face.
"Carlisle," Alex said.
Kitt groaned inwardly at the breach of etiquette. The earl, having the greater consequence, should have spoken first.
She was grateful when the earl took no notice of the insult, but merely nodded and said, "Good day, sir."
Alex gave a cursory, condescending nod in return. As though he were the one with the title and not the earl, Kitt thought with another inward groan.
"Please make yourself comfortable," Carlisle said, gesturing her toward an elegant Grecian couch covered in faded red velvet. "And you, too, sir," he added in a brusque voice.
"I will stand," she heard Alex reply. He crossed with her to the couch and stood behind her, vibrating with hostility.
Fortunately the earl did not seem the least intimidated by Alex's bristling posture. He asked a footman to have tea brought to the drawing room and sat down right beside her on the sofa.
Alex growled like a dog whose bone was being threatened.
Kitt shot him a warning look, then smiled at the earl. "I'm sure you didna invite me here just to look at me."
"What if I had?"
Kitt stared at him, momentarily disconcerted. "I dinna understand your meaning, my lord."
"I think you do," Carlisle said, his dark eyes focused intently on her.
The look was sensual enough to make her nervous. Maybe this was all going to be much easier than she had dared to hope. "What is it you want, my lord?"
"Very well. Plain speaking it is. I would like to court you, Lady Katherine."
Kitt shot a quick, silencing look over her shoulder at Alex, who had shifted behind her. It allowed her to see how little he thought of the earl and his suit.
"It's such a fine day. Would you like to take a stroll around the grounds with me?" the earl asked.
"That would be lovely," Kitt replied.
The earl reached for her gloved hand to help her to her feet, then slipped her arm through his. "We can go out through the French doors onto the balcony, and then walk down into the garden," he said, leading her away.
She glanced over her shoulder and mouthed the words, "Behave yourself!" to Alex as the earl led her outside into the sunshine.
Alex glowered back.
"The sky is beautiful today," the earl said, as he led her down the steps. "So blue. Not a cloud in sight."
It quickly became apparent that the sky was the only beautiful thing they would see. The rose garden was choked with weeds.
"I have plans to return all of this to its former glory," the earl said.
"Castle Carlisle possessed great majesty once upon a time, my lord," Kitt said. "I'm sure it will again."
She saw pain flicker briefly in the earl's eyes before he said, "Thank you, Lady Katherine. I try to believe that, or I think I would go mad."
Kitt was surprised to feel sympathy for him. She looked into Carlisle's dark brown eyes and said, "I think Castle Carlisle will become whatever you make of it, my lord."
They had reached the steps that led over the rock wall that surrounded the garden to the pasture beyond. "Shall we walk farther? I could lift you over the top," Carlisle said.
"Why not?" Kitt replied.
She was anticipating the earl's hands on her waist when she felt two strong hands grasp her from behind. From over her shoulder she heard Alex tell the earl, "'Tis my responsibility to ensure my lady's safety."
"Are you suggesting I would drop her?" the earl asked, incensed.
Alex lifted her up and over the stone wall, then vaulted it himself, leaving the earl on the other side. "Why take the risk?"
Kitt saw the angry flush climbing the earl's face at being outmaneuvered by Alex, but what could he do? She was already over the fence. The damage was done.
Carlisle vaulted the stone fence--she noticed he accomplished the feat as easily as Alex had--and, staring Alex in the eye, took her gloved hand and once more laid it on his arm. "Shall we walk some more, Lady Katherine?"
Kitt shrugged Alex's warning hand off her shoulder and said, "I would love to see more, my lord. What is over that hill?"
Carlisle grinned at her. "Honestly? A bit of heather and a great deal more thistle."
She laughed. "I love them both." Because they were both Scotland--its beauty and its pain. "Let's go look," she said with enthusiasm."
"My lady--"
"You needn't come with us, Alex," Kitt interrupted. "We willna be going far."
"'Tis my job to guard your back, my lady. 'Tis necessary I stay close enough to do so."
Carlisle turned to Kitt and said, "It must be bothersome having such an annoying puppy on your heels all the time."
Kitt laughed and glanced over her shoulder at Alex. "Sometimes he's fun to play with. And he's very good at fetching."
© 1998 by Joan Mertens Johnston Inc.
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