The Border Bride — Elizabeth English

The Stand-in Bride

No one can remember a time when the Darnleys and Kirallens were at peace -- the neighboring clans have been at each other's throats for generations. At long last, however, it seems like peace is at hand -- Darnley's daughter Maude is to marry Jemmy, Laird Kirallen's son, bringing the bitter fighting to a wary truce.

But things are not what they seem. Darnley would rather slit her throat than have his beloved Maude marry a Kirallen, so he blackmails his bastard daughter Alyson to masquerade as Maude and wed Jemmy in her stead. Alyson has no choice but to comply, and knows she cannot reveal the deception or risk endangering her brother. Yet the Kirallens are not the barbarians she feared and expected, and neither is Jemmy. In his embrace she finds the promise of home, and in his gaze she finds a passion so overwhelming she can barely resist. If she reveals the truth, her brother's life will be sacrificed, but if she doesn't, she will condemn the Kirallen clan to certain death, and betray the one man she yearns to trust....