An Inconvenient Marriage; an Unexpected Love To honor a deathbed promise to her foster father, Kailey Hewett must marry Simon Rutledge, Henry II's chief justiciar - a darkly forbidding, mystery of a man. As she leaves her home and all she holds dear, Kailey wonders how she can keep her pledge to give this stern man his "heart's peace" - but she vows to create a new family, no matter what it takes. Simon had intended this marriage as private penance for his still-secret role in the long-ago conspiracy against her father that led to the man's execution for treason. But her generous heart draws him into her ad hoc family of endearing misfits and he quickly finds himself yearning for her forgiveness, yet barred by his own harsh code of justice from accepting the love she offers so freely. Kailey's indomitable spirit and her war against injustice exposes a corrupt merchant, a ransom plot and a murderous Templar, finally teaching her stubbornly resistant husband that mercy is as important as justice-and love and forgiveness can heal all.