Scotland, 1826. Miss Celestine Fairley arrives at the windswept Dunvegan House seeking nothing more than a quiet life as a companion. But the rugged Highland landscape holds more than just rain; it holds Alasdair Kincaid, the brooding Laird of Craigross, a man whose soul is as scarred as the Peninsula battlefields he left behind.
When a scandalous threat from a local rival leaves Celestine's reputation in tatters, Alasdair offers the only protection he can: his name. It is a marriage of convenience, born of necessity and sealed in a cold kirk, yet the fire that ignites between them is anything but practical. As Celestine transforms the neglected Craigross into a home, she begins to peel back the layers of Alasdair's haunted past.
But Alasdair is a man practiced in the art of self-sacrifice. Fearing his internal darkness will dim Celestine's light, he secretly plots a future that would tear them apart forever. To save her marriage, Celestine must confront the man who would rather lose her than hurt her, proving that the bravest thing a soldier can do is let himself be loved.
From H. Thorne comes a sweeping Regency romance about the power of resilience and the courage it takes to heal.