Somewhere between the rugged mountains and open plains on the Montana frontier, the Gallaghers struggle to find peace, hope, and love on a wild land.
Title: Gallagher’s Pride
Author: MK McClintock
Genre: Historical Western Romantic Adventure
Book Blurb
She is on a quest of discovery. He is on a quest for revenge. Together they will discover a second chance.
Brenna Cameron travels from Scotland after losing someone she loves in search of family she didn't know existed. Alone now in the world, Brenna makes an arduous journey, following the trail of discovery to Briarwood, Montana. Here she meets Ethan Gallagher and the rest of the Gallagher clan. Only with their help is she able to discover lost family, heal old wounds, and embark on a treacherous confrontation with a man who destroyed her family.
As head of the Gallagher clan, Ethan has more than enough to occupy his thoughts and time—he didn't need the complication of Brenna Cameron and he certainly didn't need the trouble that came with her. Ethan takes on the unwanted duty of self-appointed protector to the headstrong Scot, only to discover there is such a thing as second chances and more to life than revenge.
Adventure, danger, and timeless love—Gallagher's Pride is the first in a series about a frontier family's legacy, healing old wounds, and fighting for the land they love.
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Excerpt:
She carefully set her satchel down on a rough rock next to the water and stripped down to her camisole and bloomers. Neither garment was the most practical thing to wear under the borrowed breeches, but she refused to do without them. Testing the water with a quick dip of her foot, she determined that she exaggerated. It didn’t feel like a tropical current, but it certainly wasn’t as cold as some of the rivers back home. Brenna submerged herself into the water as best she could and washed with her scented soap she had made in large batches back home. Once she was adequately clean from hair to feet, she moved to the bank, only she didn’t make it out of the water.
Ethan heard the scream and bolted to the water. He arrived at the water with his gun drawn, ready to protect her, but when his eyes rested on Brenna he couldn’t see anything wrong with her. He moved closer and saw her face. He’d never seen eyes so big in his life. He followed her terrified gaze until his eyes settled on the retreating rear end of a small black bear.
Ethan wanted to laugh and it took all of his control not to.
Brenna finally found her voice. “What took you so long? That thing could have attacked.”
Now he did laugh. He just couldn’t help it. “I take it you’ve never seen a bear before, Miss Cameron.”
“A bear? No, I haven’t actually seen a bear before, Mr. Gallagher, and I’ll thank you to stop laughing at me.”
“Your scream was enough to scare it away. It just wanted to find a light meal.” He pointed to the blackberry bush she chose to bathe near.
“I’ll have you know that I’ve seen far worse creatures in my lifetime than a measly bear. Just startled me is all.”
“Uh-huh.”
Brenna scowled at him, and he stopped laughing only when he noticed her state of undress. The delicate white undergarments clung to every curve, and her long red hair rioted in wet curls around her shoulders and arms. The bright moon overhead left nothing unnoticed. She was still submerged to her knees and appeared to be turning blue. Ethan cleared his throat and turned away, giving her his back.
Giveaway:
I’m one of the authors participating in the Spring Into Freebies Giveaway and you can win a print copy of a MK McClintock book – winner’s choice + $5 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card (US only).
Runs April 1 - 30 and is open internationally.
Winner will be drawn May 1, 2019.
Author Biography
Award-winning author MK McClintock is devoted to giving her readers books laced with adventure, romance, and a touch of mystery. Her novels and short stories take you from the rugged mountains of Montana to the Victorian British Isles, all with good helpings of daring exploits and endearing love stories. Her works comprise multiple series, including: Montana Gallaghers, British Agents, Crooked Creek, and Whitcomb Springs. She enjoys a peaceful life in the Rocky Mountains where she is writing her next book.
Social Media Links
Website & Blog: www.mkmcclintock.com
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Title: Gallagher’s Hope
Author: MK McClintock
Genre: Historical Western Romantic Adventure
Book Blurb
She seeks a new beginning. He seeks what he doesn’t know was missing. Together they will discover hope in unlikely places.
Isabelle Rousseau must escape New Orleans and the memory of her family's tragic loss. With her younger brother in tow, she accepts a position as the new schoolteacher in Briarwood, Montana. Desperate to keep what's left of her family together, Isabelle joins her life with a stranger only to discover that trust and hope go hand in hand.
Gabriel Gallagher lives each day as it comes, believing he has everything he could possibly want . . . until a determined woman and her brother arrive with a little luggage and a lot of secrets. It will take a drastic choice to protect her and give them both hope for the future.
Return to the beloved town of Briarwood with this frontier romance about second chances and finding love in the face of overwhelming odds.
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Excerpt:
Isabelle studied the mansion one last time. The driver loaded the luggage onto the buggy for the ride to the train station, and the air of the Garden District weighed heavy on her skin. She had imagined such a different future.
No matter how her father had left them in the end, he had given them a good home. He didn’t arrange a marriage for her as many other fathers in their social circle had done.
Isabelle gazed out the window of the train as it slowly carried her and Andrew into a wilderness that excited her as much as frightened her.
During the war, Isabelle had heard stories of men and boys heading west to avoid joining the fight. Their family had been lucky in that regard. With her father old enough to have been left alone and her brother not yet born, their family had remained intact. When her father moved the family to New Orleans, society welcomed them, regardless of where they had lived during the war. Their French heritage and wealth had certainly helped.
That acceptance mattered little now. She left behind no one who meant anything to her. When it became known that she and her brother had been left penniless, many of those she called friends stopped visiting after they’d paid their initial respects. One young man offered marriage. She declined and immediately sent a telegram to Briarwood, Montana Territory, accepting the position as a schoolteacher.
Isabelle scanned the changing landscape. The last three days offered views of dense trees and farmland but nothing to excite her about what lay ahead. Before they left, she had spent hours reading accounts about massive mountains so high a person could never climb them and land so vast that people lived lifetimes on it and never saw everything.
She glanced down at her brother, who rested quietly in the seat next to hers, his head against her arm. Isabelle brought her gaze back to the landscape and welcomed a small rush of pleasure at what she saw in the distance. The grand mountains loomed over the landscape, and pine trees became more plentiful the closer they came to those majestic peaks. Her heart raced as excitement overpowered the fear, and for a short time, she allowed herself the pleasure of imagining something better.
Title: Gallagher’s Choice
Author: MK McClintock
Genre: Historical Western Romantic Adventure
Book Blurb
He finally has a family to call his own. She now knows what it means to risk it all. Together they have a chance to find peace at last.
Eliza Gallagher is tough, resilient, and rides a horse like she was born in the saddle, all necessary qualities for someone who runs a cattle ranch. She has more to avenge than any of them and she is counting on those skills to find the justice they all seek—until she realizes it could cost her everything and everyone she loves.
Ramsey Hunter finally knows what it is to have a family and what it takes to keep that family together. Coming back won’t be easy, but he never imagines what he will have to risk to keep it.
Eliza gets him home; now Ramsey has to do whatever it takes to save her life and help bring peace to Hawk’s Peak.
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Excerpt:
“I promise you’ll be out of this bed soon. We’ll find whoever did this to you, and you’ll be back tormenting your brothers on the range before long.”
Eliza smiled. “I do believe you’re saying that with the hope I’ll cooperate with Elizabeth and remain in bed for the rest of the day.”
“You read me too well,” Ramsey said, almost pleased.
“You and my brothers could all smooth talk your way through a grizzly fight if necessary. You’re just sometimes obvious about it.”
“I’d bet on the grizzly in that encounter.” Ramsey laughed. “You, on the other hand, might stand a chance in such a confrontation.”
“You’ve made your point.”
“I didn’t realize I had a point.”
Eliza tilted her head and smiled at him. “If I’m strong enough to withstand a grizzly attack, I’m strong enough to hold my tongue with your grandmother and remain in bed, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
Ramsey no longer smiled, but he was curious. “How do you know what people mean, when they don’t say what they mean?”
Eliza shrugged. “I don’t think about it,” she said and ended the line of questioning before it went further. “Will you be joining Ethan and Gabriel today?”
Ramsey nodded. “For a few hours. I promised Isabelle I’d take Andrew riding this afternoon.” Ramsey checked the hour from the clock on the bureau. “Speaking of time, I’d better head out and take my shift with the cattle. I can’t be late for Andrew.” He stood and moved the chair back against the wall. Ramsey hesitated only a moment, then walked back to the bed and lifted Eliza’s hand into his own. He gently kissed the smooth skin, lingering for a moment and allowing his warm breath to caress her skin. Her hand jerk slightly, but it remained in his. An easy smile spread across his lips. The confusion he saw in her eyes pleased him.
He wasn’t done teasing her. “If you’re a good girl, perhaps I’ll convince Elizabeth you’re well enough for me to carry you downstairs to dine with the family this evening.”
Eliza considered him for a moment and pulled him closer. “If I’m a good girl?”
The soft down pillow ripped open when it met the top of his head. Eliza’s broad smile shone through the floating feathers.
“You have remarkably good aim for someone with your injuries, and you’ve ruined a perfectly good pillow.” He looked at the half-filled feather pillow sitting by her side. “I supposed I deserved that.” Ramsey laughed, then leaned over and kissed her soft skin again. “Until our next delightful encounter.” His smooth laughter followed him from the room.
Eliza settled down under the feather-covered quilt. The laughter came without any encouragement.
Title: An Angel Called Gallagher
Author: MK McClintock
Genre: Historical Western Holiday Adventure
Book Blurb
On a ranch known as Hawk’s Peak, a family celebrates love, joy, and peace at last . . . or so the Gallaghers thought.
Briarwood, Montana Territory—December 1883
Brenna is convinced she hears a woman singing to her son. Eliza and Ethan are unnerved by a sleepwalker, and Isabelle swears Hawk’s Peak is haunted.
Then an unlikely visitor stumbles into their lives.
Enjoy a heartwarming holiday adventure filled with tenderness, hope, and the promise of a better tomorrow for more than one deserving soul. Join us for a Gallagher Christmas at Hawk’s Peak and fall in love with the family all over again.
What could possibly go wrong at Christmas?
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Excerpt:
White clouds of warm breath snaked through the cold air. She held her hands in front of her mouth in an effort to bring heat to her stiff fingers. Fresh snow had covered the land while she tried to sleep, and she didn’t want to sleep too long for fear that the small fire would dwindle. Two thin pieces of wood leaned against the inside of the small black pail. She tucked her feet under her legs and pressed them into her chest. The wool blanket was thin and only warm enough for a cool day, not bitter winter nights. When the sun dipped behind the mountains and the moon rose, the cold seeped past the blanket and into her bones.
Sleep came and went like fleeting dreams until the stars faded, and the small window by the door promised to reveal a rising sun over the mountain peaks. It would be a good day to gather more wood and branches from the forest floor. She looked to the two pegs above the narrow stone fireplace where her father’s rifle used to hang. The emptiness in her stomach might be worse if her father hadn’t left behind a cut of deer. She finished the last of the meat the night before, and the gnawing in her gut told her she’d have to find a meal soon.
Her eyes closed when the soft rays of sun touched her skin. As though drawn toward the promise of warmth, she stepped off the bed with the blanket wrapped around her small shoulders and opened the front door.
Catherine Rose Carr had been raised properly and prided herself on her ability to do her numbers, read a full book without too much difficulty, and to follow the moral rules her mother said every young man and woman must abide by to get to Heaven. She wasn’t certain if she was going to Heaven, or if her mother and father were even there waiting for her, but Catie was sure her behavior the past two weeks excluded her from ever finding out.
The snow soaked through her boots and left her legs weighed down with each deep step. Grateful she could find a moment of rest, Catie crouched low, pressing her back up against the wooden structure nearly the size of her cabin. She hadn’t come this far to turn back now. It took almost ten minutes to convince herself that starvation was worse than stealing.
Title: Journey to Hawk’s Peak
Author: MK McClintock
Genre: Historical Western Romantic Adventure
Book Blurb
One woman’s desperation to escape will become the greatest journey of her life.
Briarwood, Montana Territory—1884
Amanda Warren arrives in Briarwood, Montana, with one satchel and a dream. After death destroyed her happiness, she flees, unwilling to believe it is the end, yet her weary spirit thinks only of survival. Then she meets the Gallaghers. They take a chance and give her a home and a family, but is she strong enough to make a new start? Ben Stuart has seen more of life than he wants to remember, but with the Gallaghers he has found a place where he can forget times gone by and live the life he always wanted. When Amanda arrives at Hawk’s Peak, Ben sees a woman hiding from secrets and running from her past. How will he convince her that the journey is over?
Join us on a journey to Hawk's Peak for a romantic adventure you'll never forget.
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Excerpt:
A hawk and its mate soared high above their heads. White clouds tipped with gray created a continuous patchwork in the vast, blue sky, casting shadows over the snow-capped mountains. A cool, spring breeze caressed Amanda’s face and whipped her unbound hair over her shoulders. She’d left the house wearing only a shawl, preferring to relish in the warmer air after the long, harsh season.
The winter of ’84 had been one of the coldest in Amanda’s memory. Although it had been her first in Montana, she was no stranger to the hardships of the western frontier. No matter how settled the land became or how many people from the East ventured in search of the same dreams which brought her parents west, she loved the wildness the land fought to retain.
“I’ll never tire of this sight.” Not a soul within one hundred miles could miss the grand mountain ranges that crisscrossed the land and protected their valley.
“I won’t either.” Brenna wore a heavier wool shawl, the edges gathered over her growing belly. Amanda smiled at her friend—one of many she’d made since arriving at Hawk’s Peak—and imagined Brenna as a new mother once again.
Brenna and Ethan Gallagher already had one son, Jacob, named after Ethan’s father and born in Scotland, Brenna’s homeland. The courage to leave behind everything and everyone she knew at Cameron Manor to journey across an ocean and vast continent impressed Amanda. She’d embarked on her own journey when she left home, but it compared nothing to what Brenna must have experienced.
Brenna stopped at a point in the meadow and bent over to pick a few sprigs of wild lupine and add them to the basket she carried over one arm. Calves frolicked in the nearby pastures, another sign that spring had come regardless of winter’s efforts to linger. In her lyrical voice with her refined Scottish accent, Brenna said, “When I first stepped foot off the stage, the sheer enormity of what I’d done paled in comparison to the beauty of these mountains. I abhorred the circumstances that forced me to flee, and yet without those trials, I wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t have Ethan or Jacob.” She patted her belly and smiled. “Or this one.”
“I envy you, Brenna.” Amanda continued walking, but it was Brenna who stopped, surprised by the quietly spoken words.
“What a dear thing for you to say, but there are many who could say the same of you.”
Amanda was quick to assure Brenna. “Please, don’t think me ungrateful for what I have. I’ve been blessed many times over in my life. I envy the way you approach life, every day with such hope.”
“It got me into trouble often as a child,” Brenna said with a smile. “Give yourself time. I often feel as though you’ve always been a part of our lives, but it wasn’t so long ago when you arrived.”
Amanda stared across the quiet meadow, fixated on the swaying grass. “Before you met Ethan, did you ever . . .”
“Did I ever what?” Brenna asked. “You may ask me anything, and I’ll answer if I can.”
“Did you ever wonder if you were strong enough to live the life you always wanted?”
Title: Wild Montana Winds
Author: MK McClintock
Genre: Historical Western Romantic Adventure
Book Blurb
What happens when a mountain man tries to tame the heart of a Highland lass?
Ainslee McConnell turns down every eligible bachelor who asks for her hand, for she knows none can quiet her adventurous spirit. When she travels from Scotland to visit family and seek new experiences, she discovers a life more rewarding than she could have imagined.
Raised in the wilds of the Montana mountains, Colton Dawson lives as rancher, mountain man, and tracker. He is content . . . until one day a spirited Scottish lass crosses his path on her way to Hawk’s Peak. When a moment in Colton’s past revisits him, he fights to keep safe those he loves most.
Return to Briarwood and Hawk’s Peak to experience a timeless western romantic adventure that will sweep you away on the wild Montana winds.
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Excerpt:
She spun around and threw a knife, narrowly missing him.
“Damn it, I’m not going to hurt you!” Colton brought his horse up alongside her and cut her off. Sliding off the animal’s back, he held up his hands, one still holding the rifle. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated.
“Och, I’m to believe ye?”
Colton turned his back on her, a sure sign of trust, and slid the rifle into its scabbard. When he faced her again, she’d backed away another half a dozen feet.
She raised a neat brow and pointed to his hip. “Ye’r still armed.”
“And you almost killed me with your knife.”
“’Tis a dirk.”
He studied her with both curiosity and interest. Her thick curls of dark hickory hair fell loose and free around her shoulders, tangled from the wind and her struggles with her attackers. He moved his eyes over her, from the brown leather boots peeking beneath her full skirts, over her bodice and face, stopping at her eyes. They were almost the same shade of grayish-blue as her dress.
Colton knew the voice, or one similar, and he hadn’t heard the likes of it since Brenna Cameron, now Brenna Gallagher, arrived at Hawk’s Peak less than three years earlier. “Your dirk almost hit me. Either you have good aim or you got lucky.”
She smirked as though daring him to guess which.
“I’d like to go back and tie those men up before they hightail it.” Colton looked beyond her shoulder. “Then again, it appears to be too late for that.”
“Then ye should have gone after them instead of me.”
“I don’t care if they live or die.”
Her features softened, giving Colton a chance to study the delicate lines of her face. Freckles, a shade lighter than her hair, dusted her fair skin.
“Ye’r really not here to hurt me?”
“I’m really not.” Colton grabbed the reins of his horse. “My name is Colton Dawson. You have no reason to trust me. I can understand how it looked, me riding after you.” He saw no injury beyond a few scrapes on her bare hand, but he had to ask. “Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head and wiped her hands together. “Ye stopped them. I am grateful, Mr. Dawson. Ah’m Ainslee McConnell, and not in the habit of trusting men I dinna ken. If ye’ll point me toward Briarwood, Ah’m sure to find my way.”
Colton glanced at her hand and saw no ring. No sane husband would allow a woman like her to travel alone. “I’ll guide you there, Miss McConnell.”
“I didna ask for help.”
“Do you have family back in Scotland?”
Surprised, she stared up at him. She had a fair way to look up, standing no taller than Brenna. “How did ye know?”
He smiled. “You’ll have to be in America a long time before you lose the accent.”
“Ye get many from Scotland here?”
“We get all kinds, but no, not too many in Briarwood, though some in the territory. Happens that I know a woman from your country. You sound just like she did, when she first came. Her accent wasn’t as strong. I like it.” Colton didn’t know why he added the last part. “Listen, I can wait out here all day and night with you until you come to your senses, or we can start back. We’re only a day and bed away from town.”
