Kate Cameron is not the usual Victorian maiden. She attended a progressive school and, rather than settling into the search for matrimony, she spends her time helping out at Dr. Rankin's Aberdeen clinic, using her special gifts to ease those who come there for healing and help. But someone wants people connected with the clinic dead.

Gavin Hepburn is not the gadabout he seems to be. His psychic gift warns him she is the woman he is fated to protect, but she doesn't make it easy, and why should she? Why should she trust him rather than her own finely honed instincts? But he is the Seer of Grampion and he has no choice but to stay at her side no matter how society will perceive them.

"In Scotland we burn witches." The note Kate is given marks her for murder. She holds secrets someone wants to keep buried. The only man who knows the full gamut of her talents is dead, leaving her to face the killer alone.

I am a sucker for well-drawn secondary characters, and I was delighted with those peopling this book. Although peopling may not be the best phrase as my favorite by far was Gavin's dog, MacDuff. The main story line was enriched with the major and minor character interactions, making the book as a whole even stronger.

Deeply, richly romantic, A BEWITCHING BRIDE is one of Thornton's best. The ratcheting tension leads inescapably to the explosive conclusion, but not without moments of humor and endearing tenderness along the way. The last book in the Scottish series, it was also Elizabeth Thornton's final book. She died in July of this year, and will be mourned and missed by those who loved her, and her work.