For Kirstin Croft, the lowlands of Scotland have always been a sanctuary for protecting her sense of virtue and purity. After she becomes involved in an unfortunate occurrence with Laird Lachlan of the Bateson Clan, her sanctuary begins to break into pieces and she experiences a loss of innocence. It is only when Lachlan makes her a servant of his manor within the highlands and includes Kirstin in the growing tensions with a bordering clan, that she discovers a hidden truth.

The last thing Liam Mcyntire expected to find in his barn one cold February morning, was a half-starved , frozen-solid woman. She's covered in bruises and full of mistrust and suspicions. He'd been perfectly content in his bachelor life of trapping critters, selling furs and living in solitude but this mysterious woman might just change all that. Emma Hawke was running. Running from her father, from the damage the man had done. Running from a life she didn't want--a life no different from the one that had killed her mother. She's never been off the mountain. She trusts nothing and no one--not even the man who saved her life by bringing her out of the cold. If Liam's going to win her heart, he's going to have to learn patience and how to truly care for someone more than he does himself. He'll have to love her softly. Can Emma overcome her past? Can she learn to trust--possibly even love--despite the fear that she holds of men and of marriage? Or will her past track her down and destroy any hope she has for a future?