Alaric rose on his elbow, blinking away the sleep, and stared across the chamber to the hearth where Keeley had placed another log on the fire. She sat back on the bench, her nude body silhouetted by the orange glow, and for a long moment she stared into the flames just as he stared at her.

　　She was beautiful. Feminine and yet strong. She was soft and silken, but she had an inner thread of strength that astonished him in light of her past.

　　Not many lasses could have survived on their own after being cast out of their clan. Many would have adopted the very life she’d been accused...