Ireland in the Middle Ages - a land of both heavenly landscapes and hellish warfare. It is in this world that Lord Eric of Shanekill is both feared and revered. His unstoppable rage on the battlefield has made him known as the "Irish Devil." Little did he know that his greatest battle would be fought in his heart.
Faith, daughter of Lord William of Donegal Castle, is a healer who lives on the edge of society. Shamed by a cruel act of injustice, cast out by her father, she is the last one anyone would choose for a wife . . . But when the "Irish Devil" is given his choice of Lord Terra's daughters, he demands Faith's hand in marriage. Against all obstacles, they struggle to overcome the pain of their pasts and realize the passion which both have desired - and denied - for so long.
Lord Eric has been given one of Lord Williams daughters in marriage, and he is eager to settle down in the Keep that is given him by the Irish King. After years of battle he ans his men are ready for peace, and growing crops and babies. The three daughters presented him do not appeal to him at all, but then he meets the fourth one, the healer he had his eye upon from the start and he picks her. Not knowing why her family shuns her, and not really caring. But when he fears he is betrayed, that she is no longer a virgin, he cannot overcome his pride when she refuses to tell him the full truth of her attack that night six years ago.
Faith still cares for Eric, and does not want to leave him. There is nothing back home for her. So she sets upon creating a healing garden and cottage, to help the servants and warriors who need her skills. Still Eric won't leave her alone, the passion they have together is to hot to deny. Yet he won't bed her till he knows the truth. With her laughing and caring nature, Faith soon gets the love of all within the keep, even Eric's though he doesnot believe in love as such. But when he is called into battle once more, she tells him she loves him, and he does not know how to respond to that. Can it be true?
But there is more to the attack than an attempted rape, it was an attempted murder. And when her father and stepmother come to visit, at the demand of the Irish Devil, another girl is found murdered. Is the priest the killer after all, is that why Faith never entered the chapel, or is it someone else?
Protect by her husband, his warriors, and most important, her own huge dog, Faith survives to learn the truth at last.
A book I thoroughly enjoyed reading. No magic this time as in the previous books I read by Donna Fletcher, but a great story nonetheless. A powerfull warrior, with a gentle and caring side he shows only to those he loves. And an equal strong woman, who decided to live when it would be so much easier to just die. A woman who made a new life for herself, when her family shunned her because she shamed them by living through a brutal attack.
Donna Fletcher is another one of my favourite authors, perhaps not so much for the intensity of the stories, but the easy way they read, and make you relax with a good lovestory. Luckily, I have a few more of her books to read on my shelves.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten