Guest: Nancy Lee Badger

Award-winning author, Nancy Lee Badger, loves chocolate-chip shortbread, wool plaids wrapped around the trim waist of a Scottish Highlander, the clang of broadswords, and the sound of bagpipes in the air. After growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New Hampshire, she moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. A former EMT, volunteer firefighter, and 911 Dispatcher, Nancy writes about kilted Highlanders, heart-broken dragons, and romantic thrillers and is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Triangle Area Freelancers, and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers.  

Welcome, Nancy! Please tell us about your new release.

The idea to add pirates to My Hunted Highlander, the final book in my Scottish time travel series, came out of the blue. The blue being my love of the sea. I grew up within walking distance of beaches on the north shore of Long Island in New York and as older kids, we traveled in packs on weekends to Jones Beach or Fire Island. Visiting Scotland is on my bucket list, and the North Sea is at the top of the Scottish vistas I mean to enjoy.

My Hunted Highlander’s plot can be described this way:  Plucked naked from the North Sea, bruised and nearly drowned, Niall Sinclair wakes bound to the mast of the pirate ship, The Black Thistle. Hiding his identity, and brutalized by the first mate and other seamen, their captain comes to his aid. Her identity, and gender, are a surprise, and his physical reaction to her makes him nearly forget his need to escape, and return to his clan.

When kidnapped from her shipbuilding business in modern day Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the last place Blair MacIan figured to end up, was at the helm of a pirate ship in 1603 Scotland. With her abusive husband dead, and the ship, the crew, and their people under her care, the last thing she needed was to fish a naked man from the sea. His ravaged face and ragged sandy hair could not detract from his magnificence, and she sensed in him, a means for her own escape.

A woman pirate? Why not! Mixing a modern woman making the best of a horrid situation, and a scarred and lost Highlander, gave me plenty of opportunities to twist this story into a scary, upbeat, kilted, romantic romp. My research into pirates plying the North Sea off Scotland’s eastern coast was spotty, but what little I found was enough to create a crew, a ship, and a plot.

This book follows My Lady Highlander and My Dark Highlander, and is the last time travel romance I will be writing (for a while), but not the last of books with a Scottish theme. I plan to volunteer at the 40th annual New Hampshire Highland Games and Festival this fall, something I share with my family. While surrounded by thousands of men dressed in Highland kilts, with dirks on their hips, and whisky on their breath, the next book will easily write itself!

Excerpt from My Hunted Highlander

“What be this?”

 “An eye patch. It’ll keep your damaged eye from straining to stay closed. Keeping it covered will let it heal. Tie your hair at the back of your neck with this, and I will show you how it works.”

Niall shoved his fingers through his hair, then accepted a short strip of thicker leather. He tied his hair into a short queue, then lowered his arms.

Blair stepped closer and positioned the wool over his left eye. It rested alongside the left side of his nose, running from his brow, to below his eye. The darkness and softness of the wool was not as pleasurable as the gentle touch of her fingertips, as she centered the cloth. The leather ties pulled across his forehead and above his left ear. She walked behind him and tied them at the back of his head.

“Too tight?”

“Nay.” The strings were fine, but he lied about the tightness, elsewhere. Feeling like a green boy, alone for the first time with a tavern wench aiming to share her wares, he stifled a groan and waited.

She returned to her side of the table, and stood gazing down at him. “How does that feel?”

Settling back in the creaking wooden chair, he glanced around the room. His damaged cheek felt the slight pressure of the cloth, but the strain to keep his left eye closed had disappeared. “Aye, ‘tis fine. I thank ye, lass…Captain.”

She cocked her head to the side. “You look like a pirate.”

“I would like to join yer crew.”

“What?” she cried, as she tumbled onto her seat. The chair teetered backward, and as her arms flailed, he raced to her side. When the chair stopped bobbling, and the front legs slammed back onto the wood floor, she glared up at him.

Nancy is giving away a $25 Gift Card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Enter HERE.

Please visit Nancy online:

Blog                              http://www.nancyleebadger.blogspot.com
Website                         http://www.nancyleebadger.com
Twitter                          https://twitter.com/NLBadger
Facebook                      http://on.fb.me/KMGS4z                    
Goodreads                    http://bit.ly/Vd1Usg
LinkedIn                      http://linkd.in/1N902go

Amazon Author Page   http://amzn.to/13ICHLq

Nancy's new book, My Hunted Highlander, is available at the following links.

Amazon ebook            http://amzn.to/1GYQqpr

NOOK                        http://bit.ly/1KZjE7h

Smashwords                http://bit.ly/1fha0kp   

iTunes                         http://apple.co/1GzRhq4

AllRomance                http://bit.ly/1G3xEaG

Amazon print              http://amzn.to/1GT84sI

Thank you, Nancy, for being our special guest today!