When Murieall Buchannan asks for my protection, I offer her the only thing I have left—a bargain carved from sin.

MurieallI stole a witch’s magic goblet to save my mama’s life and paid for my folly with a curse that binds me to the dead.

The voices never stop. Their grief claws at my mind, and now people whisper I’m mad. My betrothal has been shattered, my reputation destroyed, and time is running out to break the curse before I lose everything.

The witch’s answer to my pleas for forgiveness is as cruel as it is impossible: I must make the wickedest Scot in the Highlands feel again. Munro Ross is grief-hardened, sinful, and dangerous. He wants nothing to do with redemption, but to save myself, I must save him.

Entry into his domain comes at a wicked price: one month in his bed. I tell myself I can endure anything for freedom. What I don’t plan for is the honorable man I find under the dark surface, or the way his touch strips away my careful control, or how falling for him may cost me far more than the curse ever could.

MunroI lost my wife. I lost my son. And I buried my heart with them.

I don’t believe in witches. I don’t believe in forgiveness. And I don’t save desperate women who come begging at my door. So when Murieall Buchannan asks for my protection, I give her the only thing I still know how to offer—temptation wrapped in shadows and desire.

She’s meant to be a distraction, a fleeting indulgence to dull my pain. But by day, I see a patient, brave woman. And night after night, the ice I’ve built around my heart begins to crack. When she starts whispering truths I was never meant to hear, I realize this bargain may destroy us both.

Because if I let myself feel again, I’ll have to face the lies and betrayals that surround us. And the secrets that unite Murieall and me may be the very ones that tear us apart.