Blakewell/Kenleigh

For five pounds sterling, the convict was hers. Though Cassie hated the slave trade, her Virginia plantation demanded the labor, and she knew this fevered man would surely die if she left him. But as his wounds healed, and as his muscled chest bronzed from the sun, Cassie realized Cole Braden was far more dangerous than his papers had indicated - for he could steal her breath with a glance or lay siege to her senses with a touch.

To protect her brother, Bríghid offers her innocence to their hated overlord's friend, Jamie Blakewell. Jamie has long thought his friend Sheffield Winthrop Tate III, now Lord Byerly, to be losing his sense of honor. Now he knows that there's something wrong with Sheff. He plays along with the madman's scheme, vowing to keep Bríghid safe. Jamie's tenderness and concern for her people are Bríghid's undoing.

Widowed and alone on the frontier, Elspeth Stewart will do whatever it takes to protect herself and her unborn child from the dangers of the wilderness and of men. Though her youthful beauty doesn't show it, she is broken and scarred from the way men have treated her. So when a stranger wanders onto Bethie's land, wounded and needing her aid, she takes no risks, tying him to the bed and hiding his weapons before ministering to his injuries.