Ireland, 1215
At his brothers request, Lord Connor FitzClifford journeyed to Gerald’s Keep to lend assistance to the widow who now found herself unprotected by the recent death of her husband. The shock of finding Lady Moira FitzGerald so great with child, her man-at-arms so insolent and her keep remarkably still well protected, he knew there was a lot more to the story of why she had sent for the help from her overlord. The guilt over how she got into her current situation kept Moira more vigilant than most would have been, she knew it was all her fault that the MacCarthy’s wanted her, her child and her keep, but could she convince the brother of her overlord that her sins were not so much, that the people deserved help, that her child needed protection no matter what he decided to do with her. With the vow of protection from Connor, he set to work to figure a way to quell the MacCarthy’s in their quest for Gerald Keep and to protect the beautiful Lady Moira from them and her own family if need be.

This is the 4th in the l’Eau Clair Chronicles, while I miss some of the previous family members, it is wonderful to get better acquainted with Rannulf’s brother Connor and get reacquainted with the fun loving, now knighted Sir Will. This story gives a different view of a hero, admitting to weakness if only to himself shows a remarkable amount of strength. The story is very fluent and allows for the option of tender feelings to grow for each of the characters, even some of the bad guys leave the ending in good standing. This is a slower paced book than some of the previous, no kidnapping, very little battle, only remembered horrors and nightmares. The main principle is based in the mystery of how to beat the other side without forfeit of Lady Moira or her child. All the while everyone is second guessing themselves and filled with uncertainties but the honesty and the trust between Moira and Connor in the end, succeed (sorry for the spoiler, but you knew all along they would). Again, I love this series, it is an older Harlequin Historical (2000), got the whole series out just to re-read them. ( )