Connell and Mairi have left the safety of MacGrigor Castle, hoping to reach Edinburgh, vanish into the busy city, and elude the Scottish and English mercenaries hunting them and their infant ward, the bastard son of the newly crowned King Edward II, and a pawn in the war for control of Scotland's future. With his family dead, Connell has nothing left to lose. He willingly puts his life on the line for Mairi and wee Adam, but he cannot give Mairi what she wants more than anything: his heart. Holding himself apart from everyone, his grief and guilt threaten to defeat him faster than any mercenary blade, for at his side is a constant reminder of everything he has lost. But as he and Mairi make a new home for themselves and settle into city life in the guise of a blacksmith and his family, Mairi's loving attentions and the spirit of the Christmas season give Connell something he's not had in years: hope. But as he lets his guard down and begins to open his heart, a new threat closes in. Connell will have to fight harder than he ever has before for the one precious gift he only now realizes he ever truly wanted: a second chance at life and love.