Dear Reader,

I can’t believe I’m writing this letter to introduce you to my debut novel for Harlequin. It’s testimony to the fact that dreams really do come true.

I’m here because I won a writing competition, so I will always be grateful to Milla and Cormac for capturing the judges’ hearts in that first chapter. Milla is inspired by a real person—an Irish art student—who I came across when she was modeling. I follow her blog, and it was her various residencies in the Outer Hebrides that gave me the idea that Milla should be an artist, seeking isolation in a remote Scottish bothy in order to heal her broken heart. I wanted Cormac to be more than the heir to Calcarron estate; I wanted him to be strong and physically capable, so giving him a career as a commander in the Royal Engineers ticked those boxes. His military life also gave me the perfect well from which to draw his traumatic backstory.

I love writing about Scotland and its people. I’ve tried to make my descriptive touches completely authentic, and while I use fragments of reality when I’m writing, I should point out that Calcarron Estate and its environs are completely fictitious.

I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Ella x