Isla of Tolbain has just been told by her father that she's betrothed to a highland laird, Finlay of Seannae. Though at first concerned, she recognizes the importance of the union between her clans. Then she meets Finlay and he's a fine young man who courts her with charm and consideration. She realizes that it's not a bad thing to have a union that isn't love based. Until she meets the man who makes her heart beat faster and her pulse race.

Ewan McAbee received a letter from his brother, the laird of Duffus that he's abdicating his position. Now Ewan, a man who's fond of his mead and the lasses has found himself as a laird and with new priorities. The first of which is to determine who the masked marauders are that have been ransacking the villages of his lands. Who would have thought that those same raiders would have assailed a young woman on the brae. One who appeared on his doorstep, bedraggled, frightened, and soaked to the bone.

Now Ewan McAbee, has a mystery to solve. Where are the raiders hiding and how can he stop them? Add to that, Ewan McAbee, sworn bachelor, is smitten with a woman who's promised to another.