A Man's Yearning for Freedom After sever years in the Tower of London, the infamous Highland Chieftain Drummond Macqueen saw his prison door swing open. He swore to seek revenge on the faithless bride who had betrayed him. Yet the wife he encountered seemed like a stranger---defiant, lovely, and inexplicably changed.
A Woman's Desperate Gamble At the death of her twin sister, Johanna Benison had begun a journey of no return. Now, the unexpected arrival of Drummond, the domineering Chieftain she'd believed executed long ago, threatened her precious independence. But soon her fear gave way to a soul-deep longing for the lover who stormed her castle and claimed her heart.
A Passion Neither Could Deny Through harmonious days and impassioned nights, Johanna and Drummond reveled in their happiness...until the vengful King Edward II delivered an unholy ultimatum. Obeisance to his royal command could engender only disaster, setting a shattering price on a woman's honor and the future of thier love...
Great story, but some what unfinished. I would have liked the herione to learn of her parentage and that her friend was her mother.

Laurie S. (
LaurieS) wrote on 9/13/2005...
I haven't read this, thus the PW review:
With medieval Anglo-Scottish conflict as a backdrop, Lamb's ( Border Bride ) latest romance provides a detailed look at 14th-century English domestic life, with a dose of political history thrown in. At the behest of her dying twin, Clare, Johanna Benison masquerades as Clare, taking care of her Yorkshire estate and young son for seven years when Clare's supposedly dead husband, the Scottish Chieftain Drummond Macqueen, suddenly materializes, elephant in tow, to reclaim his wife and child. Long imprisoned by the King of England, Drummond has no idea his wife is dead and Johanna fears that if he discovers her ruse, he will take her cherished nephew away from her. Such a discovery is bound to occur as soon as Drummond sleeps with his supposed wife because, unlike Clare, Johanna is a virgin. The obvious solution is to find excuses to reject his amorous advances, but Johanna has another problem--she finds Drummond, who frequently struts about shirtless in skintight hose, irresistably attractive. Given this set-up, the story's central conflicts are rather predictable, but some engaging minor charcters, from Drummond's cryptic Welsh elephant keeper, to Johanna's flamboyant feminist friend Glory, to the elephant himself (whose presence in medieval England is taken very much in stride), liven things up nicely.