1263: On Scotland's western shore, the village of Somerstrath prepares for the joyous wedding celebration of Margaret MacDonald, the laird's daughter. But a dark storm of bloodshed and betrayal is closing in, as a merciless band of Vikings threatens the Highlands. Margaret is determined to hold the MacDonald clan together and to locate her abducted younger brother. But can she trust the noblemen from King Alexander's court, who insist that only by adhering to a betrothal conceived for political gain will she find safety? Or should she put her trust in an imposing half-Irish, half-Norse warrior? Gannon MacMagnus alone offers her hope of reuniting her family and vanquishing the barbarous Norsemen who would continue to rob her people of their God-given right to determine their own destinies. In whom should Margaret entrust the fate of the rugged, magnificent land she calls home?

In London, Edward has expelled all Jews from his kingdom. Rachel de Anjou is heartbroken to leave behind her best friend, Isabel de Burke, and travel with her family to the Scottish border town of Berwick. Danger is everywhere, but the tall, dark Highlander Kieran MacDonald presents a risk of a different sort.

Isabel, appointed as lady-in-waiting to Edward's queen, Eleanor, is soon immersed in a world of privilege and peril where she attracts the notice of two men -- Henry de Boyer, an English knight, and Rory MacGannon, a Highland warrior and outlaw. Isabel and Rachel are soon reunited in Berwick, but as the enmity between Scotland and England reaches its violent peak, each woman must decide where her loyalty -- and her destiny -- lies.

Mary Lowell is enjoying the social whirl of a London season when Alex MacGannon, Earl of Kilgannon, walks into her aunt's ballroom. It's love at first sight but their courtship isn't an easy one; instead, it's fraught with misunderstandings, the intervention of another jealous suitor, and an attack on Mary's life. Despite her aunt's warnings about the danger and hardships of life in the Highlands, Mary is determined and marries her handsome Scotsman. She quickly learns that marriage to a Scottish laird involves complications that she's never considered, while Alex finds that having a beautiful, intelligent wife can sometimes make life difficult. And as if settling into marriage and sharing their life isn't challenging enough, the threat of betrayal and war swirls over Kilgannon, threatening their happiness and the lives of the clan.

The world of well-to-do Londoners and Highland clansmen comes alive in this memorable historical, immersing the reader in the sights and sounds of the early 1700s. The characters are well drawn, while the tightly woven plot keeps one turning the pages without pause. The sequel to this story, The Wild Rose of Kilgannon, is soon to follow, bringing us the further adventures of Mary and Alec. --Lois Faye Dyer