Chieftain’s Rebel by Frances Housden

One last Chieftain meets his match in the final book in Frances Housden’s best–selling, award–winning series…

For a year, Rory has dreamed of a lass, a Norse lass, under the summer solstice moon. Unable to give voice to her name or recognise her face, he will never forget the feel of her skin, the scent of her hair, or the emotions she wrought inside him. So when war threatens between the Norse Clan at Caithness and the Irish, Rory rebels against his father and willingly puts his heart before his duty.
Granddaughter of Caithness’s Jarl, Ainsel once shone as a shield–maiden, but an abusive marriage to a husband, gone but not mourned, has leeched the spirit from her soul. Her only salvation is her baby son, born of a last spark of rebellion and a passionate solstice tryst with a tall, fearless Scot. But with his return to Caithness, he threatens the life she has rebuilt, the independence she has scratched out of the dust of her marriage.
But as Rory integrates himself into Caithness, proving himself a worthy ally against the coming war with the Irish, avoiding him becomes impractical, avoiding the feelings he stirs impossible. Every day he stays adds more weight to the guilty secret Ainsel hides. When Rory begins to return her feelings, she knows that revealing her past actions that led to her son – his son – could ruin any chance at a future…