Aileen Adams

A betrothal meant to secure peace may cost two guarded hearts everything. Isobel Douglas has spent her life among books, reason, and the ordered grace of the Lowlands. Promised to Lachlan MacKenzie, a feared Highland laird she believes to be little more than a ruthless barbarian, she rides into his harsh world determined to endure the match, not welcome it. Lachlan expects a delicate bride unsuited to clan life.
Instead, he finds a sharp-minded woman with courage enough to challenge him, mercy enough to soften the hardest disputes, and a quiet strength that unsettles his every defense. As winter sickness spreads, rival clans circle, and royal advisors threaten to tear their alliance apart, Isobel and Lachlan are forced to stand side by side. By the hearth, on windswept glens, and beneath the watchful eyes of their people, respect deepens into something far more dangerous.
Because if they cannot trust the love growing between them, ancient feuds will win, the crown will decide their fate, and the peace they were meant to forge will die before it begins.