Why I Write About Hotties in Kilts

By Nicole North

Have you heard the saying, “a man in a kilt is a man and a half?” Well, that’s the first reason I’m drawn to these unusually clothed guys. This statement also makes you wonder what exactly is a man and a half. Hmm. Lots of possibilities. Another question on a lot of people’s minds is what do they wear under those kilts? Nothing, if they consider themselves true Scots. I think that intrigues most women… the guy is “going commando" or "regimental” and what if a fierce wind blows through? We get a treat!

But there is far more to a hero who wears a kilt than just his clothing. If the story takes place hundreds of years ago in Scotland, he’s a tall, strong warrior who fights for what he believes in and what he loves. His duty is to defend his clan, his lands, his country, and protect the woman he loves. Honor and loyalty are of primary importance to him. He is noble but at times playful. That delicious Scottish accent rolls off his tongue, seducing both the heroine and the reader. He can handle a sword or a woman’s pleasure with equal proficiency. He has passion in spades. Sometimes that famous Scots temper might escape his control and have him spouting Gaelic curses or chasing after the enemy with a sword. The land of myth and legend is his home. He has experienced the harsh realities of life--the feuds, battles and oppression--but chances are he also believes in fairies and magic. Perhaps his soul and body are battered and damaged from the battles he’s chosen to fight, and maybe he has lost all faith in love. But when he finds it, we enjoy watching him touch and accept love like something fragile and precious. Love can heal wounds of the soul and break curses.

The first time Shauna, the modern day heroine of Devil in a Kilt, meets Gavin, the 17th century Highland Chief hero, he’s isn’t wearing a kilt. He’s wearing nothing at all… because she appears in his bedchamber in the middle of the night.
***

Excerpt from Devil in a Kilt, Secrets Volume 27 Untamed Pleasures
Copyright © Nicole North, 2009
All Rights Reserved, Red Sage Publishing

“I dinna trust her.” Gavin set the candle on a nearby table, picked up the sword and handed it to Ewan. “Put this in the armory. Lock it up and haste ye back.”

“Aye.” Ewan scurried out the door with the long sword.

Gavin’s intense gaze zeroed in on her. “Now, Shauna, is it?” Damn, what his accent did to her name, made it sound more exotic than it had a right to.

“Yes.”

“Were ye sent to kill me or wed me? Or were ye just wanting to bed me?”

She sucked in a deep breath to calm her hip-hop heart rate. “Not bed,” she blurted. At least not now. She glanced down at his cock. That thing could hurt someone. Even semi-erect it was impressive. But it hadn’t hurt her in the fantasies. Quite the opposite.

“Of course no’. Ye wouldna be wanting to turn to stone.”

Huh?

“Keep your hands where I can see ‘em.” He placed the dagger beside the candle on the table and moved forward, apparently oblivious to his own nudity.

But she wasn’t. Holy codpiece, he was well-endowed.

Though danger emanated from him like the clean male scent of his skin, she didn’t fear him. She almost felt she knew him. But she didn’t. She barely knew his name.

He reached out and touched her face. Her skin tingled and heated. His gaze trailed over her face as if examining it. Then he stroked his warm, calloused fingers beneath her chin and down her throat. His touch was familiar, entrancing. Her body recognized him. Wanted him.

His expression eased, and his brows lifted. “I must search ye for weapons.”

“I don’t have any,” she said, breathless as a ninny.

“Forgive me if I dinna believe ye.” He placed his large hands on her shoulders, her blouse barely shielding her from his heat, and with a gentle grip, ran them down her arms and underneath them, firmly down the sides of her body, around her waist and back up between her breasts.

A storm tide of tingling sensation followed in the wake of his touch. Too intense, too real. No, this was no fantasy, and that scared the hell out of her.

“Stop it!” She shoved his hands away.

His eyes glinted. “Many a man has been sent to the hereafter with a sgian dubh that was hidden in a woman’s bodice.”

“They probably deserved it!”

Shauna grappled for control, but with Gavin’s obvious superior strength, he won. Towering over her, he gripped both her wrists in one large hand and held them above her head.

I don’t fear him. I don’t. He’s the one I’ve dreamed of. Why did her body tremble? Because of the invasion and his too-intimate touch, or because she craved his hands on her? She feared she would hand over control to him too easily. He was already a drug in her veins.

“Don’t!” She glared up at his face, darkened by shadows.

“I willna hurt ye, lass,” he said softly, then stroked his fingers down between her collar bones and into her cleavage.

His fingertips rasped over the sensitive skin of her breasts. So stimulating. Her traitorous nipples hardened.

Oh, this can’t be happening! She hung suspended between fantasy and a reality more real than anything she had ever experienced.

She felt as though she’d been reunited with a long lost lover, her body heating with rising desire. But he wasn’t anyone she actually knew.

He removed his hand, then caressed her waist all the way around the top of her skirt.

“Hmm, ye’re no’ wearing a corset,” he murmured.

“So?”

Lifting a brow, he brought her arms down and knelt. He stroked his free hand from her calf up the inside of her bare thigh.

Arousal crashed into her. He ran his fingers all along both legs, top to bottom and over her hips.

“Let me take your boots off,” he said in a husky voice. “So I can see if ye have any weapons inside.”

She pulled her feet up, one at a time, while he yanked her suede leather ankle boots off. After he searched the inside, he released her, rose and turned away. But not before she noticed his heightened state of arousal. She’d thought he was large before…

How could she want him so intensely? Paralyzed, she ached for him. Tears pricking her eyes, she almost ran to him and begged him to throw her on the bed and take her.

Ewan burst through the door. Gavin grabbed a long white shirt off a chair and pulled it over his head. The voluminous garment reached to mid-thigh.

Gavin faced her, his wicked gaze turning into the evil eye. “I canna trust you until I find out why you were sent.” He glanced at Ewan. “Take her to the dun­geon.”