In the shadows of the great hall, Lady Alice approached the
fearsome warrior who had swept into Lingwood Manor like a
storm. Dark and forbidding, with hair as black as midnight
and eyes of molten amber, Hugh the Relentless seemed aptly
named. Yet to Alice, adept at driving off suitors and
handling her insufferable relatives, Sir Hugh was not
someone to dread but the answer to her dreams. She knew he
had come for the mysterious green crystal, knew he would be
greatly displeased to learn that it was no longer in her
possession. Yet Alice was certain that if she approached
him logically, Sir Hugh, like any other man, could be
coaxed into a deal that would benefit them both. Her
proposition was a simple one: in return for a dowry large
enough to free Alice and her brother from the grasp of
their conniving uncle, she would lend her powers of
detection to Sir Hugh's knightly skills and together they
would recover his treasured stone. For over a sennight Hugh
had searched for the crystal that was the last of the
ancient Stones of Scarcliffe - and the vital key to the
mastery of his new manor - only to find that it had once
more been snatched away...only to find himself challenged
by the most unusual female in all of Christendom. Sensible
but unrepentant, and with a tongue as sharp as a dagger,
the flame-haired beauty filled him with fury...and
reluctant fascination. As she boldly met his gaze, it
hardly mattered that she longed to spend her days studying
natural philosophy, or that she found the thought of
entering a convent far more alluring than marriage. Hugh
knew he had found the wife who could help him put his manor
to rights. So he accepted her terms, with one alteration:
Alice must agree to a temporary betrothal and spend the
winter in Hugh's great stone fortress, Scarcliffe Keep. The
bargain is struck and the adventure begins for this
unlikely pair of practical lady and battle-hardened
warlord. Yet even as Hugh searches for a means to bind
Alice to his side forever.
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