The Marriage Bargain

Forced into a marriage meant to secure an alliance, Celia Montgomery has never known tenderness. Cast aside by her own family and treated as little more than a bargaining piece, she dreams of freedom—of a life where she is wanted, not used. But when she is sent to wed a rival laird, her hopes of escape fade into a future she never chose.

Brian Armstrong never imagined himself a husband. Duty, not desire, binds him to the bride he left behind. But when danger threatens his lands, he returns to claim the woman who is his by law—only to find a gentle, spirited wife who flinches at shadows and begs for her freedom.

What begins as obligation shifts the moment Brian sees the truth in Celia’s eyes: the loneliness she hides, the strength she doesn’t know she has, and the quiet courage that stirs something fierce in him.

But the keep holds secrets.
And someone wants Celia gone.

As threats close in and her life hangs in the balance, Brian becomes the one man she can trust. And Celia, who has never known safety, finds herself drawn to the husband she once feared.

Bound by danger and slowly entwined by affection, Celia and Brian must decide whether their marriage is merely an alliance…
or the beginning of a love powerful enough to rewrite both their destinies.