A lovely historical with an endearing cast of characters, an excellent plot, and a love that transcends adversity and even decades of misunderstanding, along with a feisty heroine and a not so confident Laird, make for humorous and sensual reading in Ms. Scott's Scottish novel.

Lady Sibylla wants nothing to do with marriage.  Three times her father has tried to make her say I Do at the altar, and three times she's left the groom standing there.  But only one man threatens she will rue the day she turned him down.  When she meets said groom a few years later, she finds herself beholden to him for saving her life and that of a child she tried to rescue.

Simon is overjoyed to see the lovely Sibylla.  He owes her much for scorning his offer of marriage.  He plans to make her suffer in kind but finds he can only hold onto his heart, as the lady with her no-nonsense attitude, loving nature, and winsome looks threatens to steal the heart right out of his chest.

Together they agree to help the children both Simon and Sibylla fish out of the river after dastardly men tossed them in.  Before they can discover if one of the wee ones is hiding a secret, Simon is ordered to attend the governor of Scotland.  Once at court, machinations are put into play that could either tear asunder the lord and lady's tentative truce or throw them once again into the possible realms of Holy Matrimony.