Life can be short and brutal in the Highlands, and Jamie Grant is determined to make the most of it. Filled with a longing he cannot put into words, he leaves his clan to help his cousins, who are on a mission for the Scottish Crown. Though he has not yet told his sire, the great Alexander Grant, he plans to become a spy for the Crown if all goes well. A life of action and adventure is exactly what he wants-or so he thinks. His thoughts keep turning toward home, and his uncle's beautiful adopted daughter, Gracie. Gracie is reputed to be the most comely lass in the Highlands, but she shuns the attention. Being useful to her adopted clan matters more to her than being beautiful. Her dream is to have a family of her own, but the only man her heart yearns for is Jamie Grant, who seems as desperate to leave the Grants as she is to stay. When a mysterious, commanding baron courts her, she's wrought with confusion-she doesn't wish to leave home, but to refuse him offhand would be a dangerous insult that could endanger the clan she loves. Jamie realizes that the life he wants has been in front of him all along, but has he waited too long?