Welfonder's newest is a medieval romance set in Scotland. Lady Mariota Macnicol stands falsely accused of murdering her lover, but escapes, hiding out at the deserted Castle Cuidrach. When the castle's new lord, Sir Kenneth MacKenzie (the villain from Welfonder's Devil in a Kilt
), arrives to take possession, she brazenly informs him that she is the chatelaine—then changes her story after she learns he is the actual owner. MacKenzie accepts Mariota's half-truths and provides her haven, and they wind up falling hard for each other, though both have been betrayed by lovers before. But Mariota remains on the run from her accusers, while MacKenzie plots to keep her at Cuidrach until he can win her trust and convince her to marry him. Their lusty dialogue grows wearisome ("[T]he intensity of him unleashed a trickling anticipation that spilled all through her, making her blood run thick and rich"), and uneven pacing keeps readers in a state of distraction, as Welfonder shifts rapidly between the romance and the book's suspense-deficient subplots. (July)
