The Beauty of The Mist

USA Today Bestselling Author
 A rugged Highlander sent to retrieve his king's bride finds a mysterious beauty adrift at sea...
 Maria had been forced to marry at seventeen, then was left widowed shortly thereafter. Now, five years later, her brother had chosen another husband for her, sight unseen – the boy king of Scotland. Maria, who had never known passion or love, refused to submit, vowing to flee to freedom. But the ship she chose went down in the gathering fog, leaving the dark-haired beauty at the mercy of wind and tide, and headed for a shattering destiny.
For it was none other than Highland chief John Macpherson, journeying to bring home his young king's bride, who rescued the beautiful Maria adrift at sea. Almost from the moment they met, an attraction ignited between them. Maria savored these few stolen days, aware their love could never last once her proud Highlander discovered her true identity.
Maria knew that while following her heart might free her, it would forfeit her beloved's life...

May McGoldrick, Nik James,and Jan Coffey are pen names for USA Today bestselling authors Nikoo Kafi and Jim McGoldrick. Together, they have crafted over fifty fast-paced, conflict-filled historical, contemporary, and Western novels, and two works of nonfiction.
Nikoo's education and training was in engineering. She worked in robotics and submarine shipbuilding. Before earning a PhD in sixteenth-century Scottish and English literature, Jim pursued a hundred and one jobs, including a decade in submarine construction.
Storytellers at heart, Nikoo and Jim were always searching for careers that gave them time for both family and writing. Then, after thirteen years of marriage, they recognized each other's creative strengths. Nikoo is all about characters and feeling. Jim is about action and sense of place. Their first attempt in writing fiction together produced their award-winning novel, The Thistle and the Rose. Since then, their stories have touched the hearts and minds of millions of readers all over the world. Their work has been translated into over a dozen languages and counting.
Nikoo and Jim are four-time Rita Finalists and the winners of numerous awards for their writing, including a Will Rogers Medallion Award for Traditional Western Novels, the Daphne DuMaurier Award for Excellence, the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewers' Choice Award, three NJRW Golden Leaf Awards, two Holt Medallions, and the Connecticut Press Club Award for Best Fiction.
The authors make their home in California.