To burn with passion . . . to surrender to the power of a man's desire . . . Kathryn de St. Marie's years in a French convent have taught her such things are forbidden. Still the chaste Norman beauty dreams of a soul-stirring love. But cruel destiny intrudes when she is taken prisoner by Scot barbarians—though a kinder fate intervenes when she is rescued by proud, haunted Edric of Braxton Fell, a bitter Saxon lord displaced by Norman rule.

Though he despises the conquerors, Edric can sense that Kathryn is different—gentle and giving, yet possessing a fire that enflames Edric in turn—and he grudgingly allows her into his broken life. For Kathryn's capture has tainted her in the eyes of her people, and she can never again return home. Her future rests in the strong hands of her enemy champion . . . and in a long-cherished dream of a perfect seduction and a dangerous, rapturous love.