Can you sit and say that you don’t want a man that is passionate, has charisma, loyal and the strength to shake the foundation built around your heart? I think not. I have that intense desire to climb right in to one of Knights book and allow myself to be totally seduced by the hero.

Emilia was feisty, fierce, stubborn, determined and a survivalist. She was strong when needed and devoted. She never expected to be betrayed. Let alone by her own family. Life takes her in a new direction once she escaped the clutches of her dying/dead husband and his clan. She just never expected her safe-haven to be a place to find love again.

Ian was, of course, sexy, hot, fierce, loyal, protective, and carried a bit of self-doubt. He was now the new clan chief and had the responsibility of his half siblings. This meant he needed help. The help comes in the form of Emilia from the king. He certainly was not expecting to want more from her.

I so loved this one. It was my first read in this series and now I must certainly go back and get them all. I love a man that knows himself and know that he cannot fix the world but works to do what he can. Ian was more than just a dream for Emilia. He was the answer to her heart. ( )

Meet your perfect man in Ian Matheson!

The prologue introduces us to a nasty piece of goods – Ina Ross, whose mind is demented, yet cunning. One night her cousin, Padrig, was brought to her door, more dead than alive. Ina and husband were schemers. Unfortunate , Padrig was one of their pawns. Lady Emilia, used as payment for the debt her family found themselves, is another pawn upon the chess board these two are placed.

After three months of marriage to the bed-ridden, emancipated Padrig, he surprisingly provides the means for her escape, along with some documents to be given into the camp of Robert the Bruce, his revenge for the cruelty of his cousin.

Lady Emilia escapes, but must keep looking over her shoulder. If she were caught, Ina Ross would utterly destroy her and maybe for good. For her protection she joins laird Ian Matheson’s clan at the Balmacara Castle. She is thrust among a dozen children to be their governess. This challenge and opportunity she takes with an open heart and in turn the children quickly learn to trust her. She has problems trusting the laird, however. She’s been ill-used for some time, it’s hard to trust these new conditions of acceptance, generosity and kindness she’s surrounded by. A talent few women have, is knife throwing. Ian knows of this talent and has great faith in her skill.

Ian Matheson, newly laird to his clan, isn’t very confident about who he is and unsure if he should be laird. He’s always second guessing himself. What will his people think about the way he deals with problems? Will they accept him or reject? Will they follow him?

When his father’s twelve illegitimate children show up at the keep, he could see no fault of theirs being born out of wedlock. He took them in. He blamed his father, but not the children. The children were very unruly and Ian trieds his best to be what they need. This is where we truly start seeing the kind of character this laird is. When the king presents Lady Emilia, supposedly his cousin, to him as a governess to the children, Ian sees the merit of having her. Immediately the children and Lady Emilia connect.

There seems to be a connection between Ian and Lady Emilia. As their relationship grows, so each are more confident in who they are. Ian is the perfect, understanding laird, quite flirtatious, one who knows that women adore him. Can Lady Emilia resist, or should she? Even though she’d been married, she is yet untouched, a surprise and delight for our hero – that is—when he gets around to following his desire!

There is an abundance of levity in this tale, suspense and danger lurking with surprising twists. Ian was my kind of hero with a heroine of matching quality. ( )