2016 RONE award winner!Turning to reiving to recover her family's stolen cattle, Brianna's bid for clemency from the hangman's noose could land her in bed with the one man she has sworn to hate-her betrothed.Thrust into the role of laird upon his father's unexpected death, Connor MacLaurey returns home from France to learn his cousin has usurped his lands and title. Furthermore, his betrothed--a lass he barely knows and certainly did not agree to marry--is hunted by the sheriff, accused of stealing cattle.Brianna Douglas has shouldered more than her share of responsibilities. Widowed young, berated daily for failing to give her husband a child, and sent home in subsequent disgrace, she devotes her life to holding her family's land for her young brother as their sotted father drowns his sorrow in whisky. Raiders have hit her clan hard, and to save them, she finds herself betrothed to Laird MacLaurey's son to seal a pact of protection with the MacLaurey clan.Forced into a marriage neither wants, it will take a king's edict and sacrifice from both to discover what love means. But can they accept their losses and learn from their mistakes before mis-placed pride costs them their chance at happiness?