Dado que Griff ha vuelto a Talla Dileas con las manos vacías, los Lockhart deben cumplir su parte del trato: al no poder devolver el dinero a Douglas, la hija menor, Mared, deberá casarse con él. Pero Mared es un espíritu rebelde y no quiere casarse. Douglas, enfadado, le dice que si no quiere vivir con él como su esposa, lo hará como su ama de llaves durante un año. Durante ese tiempo, Mared aprenderá a ver a Douglas como a un hombre, y no como a un enemigo…

First, I feel the need to remark on this series book covers; very nice, some might say yummy. Anyway, I think I am really going to like Payton Douglas. Already in the first and second chapters I find myself sighing (in a good way) and smiling at his thoughts. I love how Ms. London shows how Payton and Mared both have crosses to bear (the estate responsibilities for Payton and the curse for Mared) and are very lonely. Payton realizes how much Mared and him are alike, and I can't wait to see Mared discover it!
I truly felt horrible for Mared for how people treat her because of "the curse" . Especially how obvious it is that she feels something for Payton but won't allow herself to give into her feelings as she fears for Payton's life. The author makes the whole situation into an agonizing tug of war between Mared, Payton, their feelings, the townspeople, and the curse.
I liked the interaction between Mared and Payton, but about half-way through the book I felt myself losing some interest. Payton falls ill and this is when Mared finally acknowledges to herself how she might truly feel for him, a very common scene from romance books; nothing new here folks.
When Mared finally tells Payton "my heart has tilted" I didn't feel the usual heart tugs I get from great books in similar scenes. I did enjoy how open and honest Payton was about his feelings for Mared, when he tells her that he loves her, has always loved her, and will always love her. What gal doesn't want to hear this?
My emotions went back and forth when Mared decided to go to Edinburgh and stays there to "live life" . When Payton tosses away his pride and tries one more time to get her to marry him and she refuses I found myself really upset with her. How can she give up Payton for Edinburgh? I love that the author put this drama in the story, because I feel like so many woman battle with this choice; to be young and gallivant around the world or stay home and get married. I felt it was important for Mared to have the chance to discover who she really was, but at the same time I felt she wanted the wrong things, especially with Payton as her other choice. Of course if she never went to Edinburgh the old "what if" would have been hanging over her.
Side thought: Has anyone ever seen the movie "A View from the Top"? This movie does a great job of portraying this same dilemma.
I don't know if it was because I was looking so forward to this book because of the interaction between Mared and Payton in the previous books, that I might have expected more. A nice part to the story is the ongoing letters Payton and Mared write to each other, they have a certain poignancy to them I enjoyed. However after reading "Highlander in Love" I simply felt disappointed.
The series is a light, easy read but alas it doesn't stir any strong emotions in me that everyone wants in a book.

C ( )

I really liked this book, while I don't usually enjoy heroes who pursue the heroine for most of the book, swallowing their pride in order to win her affection. And Payton is such a hero; he's been besotted with Mared since they were children. When Mared begs him not to marry her since she will never love him, he wants to humiliate her: he demands that she becomes his housekeeper instead. And Mared is forced to accept, because of the debt her family owes him. But as she lives with him, she gets to know him better and appreciate how honest, decent, loyal, and of course handsome, Payton is. Payton on the other hand, can never stop loving her. And when she nurses him back to health, he sees a flicker of hope in the horizon. I loved the story and I liked both Mared and Payton, who managed to be a man deeply in love, without being a fool at the same time. However, as in the previous book in the series -Highlander in disguise- the heroine doesn't emerge from her fantasy sphere in the right time; she keeps denying the man she loves, in favor of a fantasy and a silly dream, for way too long. And Mared, understood that her hapiness was with Payton, too late to be redeemed in my opinion. I really disliked her in the end, and that ruined a perfect -until that time- book for me. So, I had to take a star away from my rating. ( )

I decided to go ahead and finish the series, I'm glad I did because while I didn't enjoy any of them at least I finally got closure. ( )