Never Kiss a Highlander

Sinclair broadens her racy, spicy sixth 14th-century McTiernay romance (after Seducing the Highlander) by introducing a new and eminently swoonable hero, Hamish MacBrieve. Hamish’s pacifistic younger brother, Robert, fell in love with Selah, the woman Hamish wanted to marry. Warrior Hamish left his castle, its lairdship, and Selah to Robert and rode off to join the McTiernays. After 12 years battling beside his adoptive brothers, Hamish’s duty to Robert, who’s being threatened by the scheming Ulrick, brings Hamish back to Foinaven where fate, in the form of Selah’s sister Mairead, awaits him. Their torrid mating dance, which dominates most of this lush historical romance, is complicated by previous disastrous forays into courtship that have left them both wary. Hamish is torn between desire and distrust, and Mairead oscillates between being infuriated by his reserved attitude and being so captivated by his manly physique that she fears “drooling all over” the both of them. In steamy scenes, Hamish sears her senses (and the reader’s) with “intimate aggression.” This lengthy excursion into the Highlands contains enough plaid tossing, claymore brandishing, castle-bound conniving, and erotic adventuring to keep Sinclair’s audience dreaming of kilts for weeks. (Aug.)