Lachlan Maclean will do whatever it takes to protect his clan—even if it means abducting the most willful woman in the Highlands with the secret intention of wooing her for marriage. A searingly sensual born leader possessing brute strength and an imposing command, Lachlan is unprepared for the beautiful spitfire, Flora MacLeod, who jeopardizes his plans to save his clan, and digs beneath his hard, chiseled exterior to expose a tenderness that may be his undoing.The greatest marriage prize in the Highlands, Flora is determined at all costs to avoid her mother's fate of being bartered away as a political pawn. Vowing to make her captor pay for his ruthlessness, she boldly engages him in a battle of wills, sweetening the challenge with dangerous passion—even as the lingering curse and deadly ghosts of a past tragedy reach out to thwart a tender love that has yet to be spoken.