Sometimes fate needs a little help. Maitland Menzie blames himself for his wife’s death, and he knows he always will. Five years after he held her broken body, his guilt drives him to protect those weaker than himself. Despite the urging of his family and friends, he cannot imagine loving another woman in Nesta’s place. It would only compound his sins. He certainly can’t fall in love with a muddy, bedraggled recluse like Maeve Grant. Maeve hasn’t left Grant land since she was a small lass. Plagued by nightmares and ridden by grief at her father Alex’s death a year ago, she’s allowed her world to shrink to the size of Grant Castle. It’s big enough for a woman like her, and most importantly, it’s safe. Her father’s dying wish had been for her to marry and make a life of her own, but it’s one she just can’t fulfill. Not with a man like Maitland Menzie, who’s always on the move in the service of clan and country. But destiny has other ideas, and Maitland and Maeve have more in common than they realize. Their forgotten pasts just might hold the key to saving the lives of two precious bairns. If only they can get the message in time.