Touched by Thorns — Susan Bowden

A HIGH-BORN BEAUTY DETERMINED TO RECLAIM HER HERITAGE...
For seventeen idyllic years, lovely, strong-willed Katherine Radcliffe had led a charmed existence on her family's estate in Yorkshire. Suddenly, in one night of shattering tragedy, her beloved Radcliffe Manor is lost to her and her betrothed betrays her. Vulnerable, frightened, and devastated by sorrow, Katherine swears a solemn oath to her dying grandfather, a fateful vow that will one day threaten all she holds dear.

A DASHING IRISH SOLDIER WITH A BOLD PROPOSITION...
Betrayed, then imprisoned, she is rescued by the handsome, mysterious Captain Brendan Fitzgerald, a distant cousin and now rightful heir to Radcliffe Manor. Mesmerized by Katherine's uncommon beauty and fiery disposition, he falls deeply in love and strikes a marriage "bargain" to which she reluctantly agrees, determined to regain Radcliffe at any cost.

A LOVE THAT WOULD DEFY BOTH CROWN AND CONSPIRACY...
Slowly, almost against her will, she finds herself succumbing to Brendan's tenderness and the fierce passions she senses lie just beneath the surface of his gallant demeanor. But by joining their lives, they unwittingly become pawns in a dangerous game of intrigue between Queen Elizabeth and her deposed cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots -- a deadly rivalry that forces Katherine to fulfill the terrible promise that has haunted her for so many years. Only Brendan can save his wife -- and with her the house and land of Radcliffe Manor he has grown to love.