The Passionate One

Ash is a smoldering, contained (hence his name) Scotsman; Rhiannon is a fiery young Scotswoman whose clan was destroyed by Ash's people when she was a child. Rhiannon's 10 years of safety and freedom from fear in the village of Fair Badden abruptly end a few weeks before her scheduled wedding to Squire Watt's youngest son, Phillip. When cynical Ashton Merrick--the eldest son of a deceased Scottish mother and a dissolute, sadistic English father--arrives in Fair Badden, he is surprised at the uncomplicated kindness he encounters in the village and is even more astonished to realize he's falling in love with Rhiannon. The remnants of Ash's suspicious nature prove ultimately advantageous, however: he is the only one to realize that certain recent ""accidents"" involving the penniless Rhiannon are actually threats to her life. Unfortunately, whisking her to McClairen's Isle offers no sanctuary, as Ash discovers his father has far more sinister plans for Rhiannon than making her his fourth wife. Skullduggery, bitter English-Scottish hatreds and harrowing cat-and-mouse pursuits fill the ebb and flow of this 18th-century romance, the first volume of the McClairen's Isle trilogy by veteran romance writer Brockway. (June)