WHEN THE LAIRD TAKES A LADY is book two in the Claimed by a Highlander series. I read this as a standalone book, without having read the first book, Taming a Wild Scot. There is an overarching story of who stole a necklace to be gifted by the king to his new bride throughout the series, and that question is not answered in the current release.

Isabail Grant is the only surviving child of an abusive father. Her brother was a justiciar for the king, and was poisoned. Everyone believes that Aiden MacCurran killed Isabail's brother after stealing the queen's necklace, and the king confiscated the MacCurran lands and keep, Dunstoras, in response. Isabail is on her way to the king to petition him to grant her the MacCurran lands in recompense of her brother's death, when she is kidnapped by the laird of MacCurran himself.

Aiden MacCurran has been unjustly charged with John Grant's murder. His clan has been kicked off their lands and are living as outlaws. Aiden wants to clear his name. He believes Isabail is the key to doing so, as she must know the names of the strangers who were visiting her cousin the Earl's castle Lochurkie that night that her brother was murdered. He thinks one of those men committed the crimes with which he is accused. Aiden kidnaps Isabail to ask her the names of those men so that he can solve the mystery of who the murderer and thief is, reclaim his lands, and save his clan. The problem is, he has only a week to do it, before his lands are given by the king to someone else.

Isabail is treated better than she expects to be while with Aiden and his men, and she soon begins to question if he is truly the killer she has assumed him to be. A widow, she quickly falls into bed with Aiden, which I thought was way too rapid for someone who she thought killed her brother and who she saw kill some of her guards when he kidnapped her. Isobail's brother's old personal attendant Daniel ends up in Aiden's camp shortly after, injured by falling into a badger's nest. Daniel convinces Isobail to search for the missing necklace, swearing that Aiden has it squirreled away somewhere in their camp. Isobail wavers between believing Daniels's accusations against Aiden and believing Aiden's protestations of innocence.

Although our two lovers reach their Happily Ever After, the book ending does not wrap the mystery up, leaving me feeling like I'm still hanging. This incentivizes the reader to read the next book, To Kiss a Kilted Warrior, which will be released in December 2014. While I enjoyed WHEN A LAIRD TAKES A LADY, as I enjoy historicals set in Europe, this is not a book that stands out particularly from the crowd. Lovers of Scottish historicals will likely find this a satisfying light beach read this summer, but be forewarned that many questions are not answered in this story.