Declan Gordon is glad for a new start away from the ghosts of his past. Just as he begins his new life as laird, he meets a fiery-haired lass who allows him to seduce her while at the same time touting her dismay at the possibility of marriage to the "new laird".
Meredith Stuart will only marry a man of her own choosing. When she happens upon a handsome dark man, she decides to seduce him in order to keep her brother from parading her before the new laird, who is rumored to have no honor.
What will happen when Meredith finds out her lover is indeed the one man she is fighting to stay away from? Will Declan reveal the secrets of his past and will that revelation push Meredith further away?
The thumps of her heart echoed with each place her eyes landed. The walls were dense, the guardsman who stood atop the towers huge, and the logs set to secure the gates once closed, immense. The Gordon keep was virtually impenetrable. Not an easy target for enemies to invade or for someone to steal away from.
Movement past where the men stood talking caught her attention. A lone man descended the steps. The tartan colors he wore identified him as a Gordon. Long burnished hair fell forward concealing his features, yet his presence had an immediate effect on her. Analise followed the male's progress as he neared. Broad shouldered with an expansive well-formed chest that tapered to a trimmer waist and hips, he commanded attention. At her study of him, breathing came easier and she was able to control her troubling heart rate only to lose it again when the amber eyes lifted and locked to hers. Dark slashes for eyebrows, his mouth tight, the exquisite man studied her in return. He exuded raw power. With chiseled cheekbones and aristocratic nose he seemed more masterpiece than human. If not for the jagged scar that distorted his right cheek and full upper lip, she'd think a more flawless creature did not exist.
"Miss Macgregor." His deep voice resonated through her and he lowered his head, barely a bow. "I am Carrick Gordon. Your betrothed."
