This very saucy book made me blush so much, but I loved it!
The Viper is the fourth novel in Monica McCarty's Highland Guard series. It tells the tale of Isabella MacDuff/Buchan, who is one of my greatest heroines. Her name is legendary in Scotland and if you are unfamiliar with her story, its worth researching her role in the Scottish Wars of Independence.
Here are the historical facts in a nutshell; it was the ancient right of Clan MacDuff to enthrone Scotland's kings, but at the time Isabella's brother was being held as a political hostage by the English, purely so that he couldn't fulfil this role. But the English had underestimated his sister Isabella and she took it upon herself to defy her Clan Comyn husband, steal his horse and ride out so that she could crown Robert the Bruce as King of Scots herself! She had a clear choice - Comyn or Bruce - and she chose Bruce. For that reason alone she is my heroine; but for the price she paid for her loyalty, she won the respect of all loyal Scots, to this very day. You can learn more about her at The Bannockburn Visitor's Centre, which is a wonderful place to visit if you are ever in Stirlingshire.
In this fictional account, The Viper, Lachlan MacRuairi, is the green-eyed bad boy of the Bruce's Highland Guard. He has a reputation for ruthlessness and barbarity. Few people actually like him; even his own comrades are wary of his temper and his black-hearted reputation. He is certainly a man with dark secrets and he prefers to work alone. He doesn't like to get too close to people, so when he meets the feisty Isabella and finds he can't scare her, he is a bit nonplussed.
His mission is to guard her as she makes her epic journey to crown the Bruce, and in the process, she gets right under his skin. At first he resents her for it, but when he learns of her fate, he knows that he has to rescue her from the cage in which she is being kept by the English.
As for Bella, well she's not much more impressed with Viper either. She finds him arrogant and full of himself. She hates that he tries to command her and expects her to obey him, without question, because that's what he is used to doing with his team of men. She is intimidated by the lust she sees in his eyes and the crude way in which he sometimes speaks of her, though she'll never let him see it and uses her sharp tongue as a means of defence against his raw masculine desire. She has been ill-used by men in the past, but as she begins to fall for Lachlan, she desperately wants him to see her for herself, for her courage and intelligence, not just for her shape or her beauty. She wants a man who loves her spirit, rather than one who tries to break it.
Well, don't we all? I think all women want to be admired for who they are, rather than as a receptacle for a man's lust, and this novel makes that point very well. It makes an argument for love, over lust, though it accepts that the first is much easier if desire is present on both sides. But lust alone isn't enough to build a relationship. It's too fleeting. It's too easy to forget and move on.
Most women want a man who plans to stick around afterwards - not one who thinks he can just pass through her like a ghost, on his way to something else. She needs to trust that he is interested in more than her body, more than a fleeting moment of pleasure; that he thinks of her when they are not together; that he misses her. We need the reassurance of long-term fidelity. That is the only way to truly win us over. It's a lesson Lachlan has to learn in spades!
The Viper is racier than the first three books in the series, but if you've ever read any Jackie Collins or Jilly Cooper, you shouldn't find that it's too much. Just be aware though, that it has quite a few sex scenes, so probably not one to lend your grandmother! That said, the story is great. There are some fantastic rescue missions, complete with explosives, blowing up walls and so on - it has a great military/SAS vibe to it, which makes it such a fun read. I've already ordered the rest of the books in this series! What can I say? The Highland Guard are holding me hostage for the foreseeable future...and I have no intention of allowing myself to be rescued from them!
"The Lovers"
Taken in Gretna Green last September 2017
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