Laurin Wittig, at age 10, heard the skirl of a bagpipe, saw a clan chieftain dance in his kilt, and began to learn about the history of her family's clan, the MacGregors. She was hooked. When she discovered Scottish romances, she knew she had to write one, so she packed her bags, left her family at home (for a week) and hied herself off to the auld country to be inspired, er, do research. Now she lives in Virginia with her husband (who refuses, under any circumstances, to EVER wear a kilt), two kids, and Anna the Eskie, but she often imagines herself high upon a ben in Scotland.