Galen MacDonald is out for revenge for the deaths of his wife and unborn child, and he believes the best way to get it is to take from his enemy what was taken from him. He receives information that Thomas MacGregor's bride is en route from England to Scotland, and Galen plans to intercept her and marry her himself so that she will be his wife and bear his heirs. And the woman should be willing enough as the MacGregor chieftain is known to be a sadistic man with unconventional bedroom proclivities, and it is rumored that he murdered his last wife. But when he descends upon the caravan to steal away the lady being carted to the MacGregor lands, he is unprepared for what he finds.Kyla Forsythe has been near death since she saved her brother Johnny from being brutally murdered by his new, devious wife Catriona. She encountered the couple in an isolated glen on her childhood property in time to see her brother attacked by men dressed as bandits. He had been cut down and the perpetrator was about to strike the killing blow to his head when Kyla threw herself across his body and took a deep sword slash from her shoulder across her back down to her opposite side hip. But before she fell, she saw Catriona hand off payment to the other bandit. While Johnny lingered near death, Catriona quickly sends Kyla off marry the nefarious MacGregor before her plot to kill her husband can be revealed. Thus, Kyla now finds herself under siege by the largest men she has ever encountered. Though she is barely conscious at the time they are attacked, she jumps to the defense of her lady's maid (who was previously her nanny and is very dear to her) and attempts to keep the highlanders at bay - she even succeeds in stabbing the largest of the men and knocking him out with a large tree branch. But before she can flee, she is surrounded and tossed back into the wagon on her back where she passes out from the intense pain as her raw wound is re-opened.Galen is not sure what to think of his new bride, but when her lady's maid tells him that she is likely going mad (the maid did so in order to protect Kyla and perhaps buy her more time), he fears it may be true and is disappointed as while she has been ill, she has told her life story in delirious ramblings, and he finds her intelligent, brave, and interesting. He also finds her incredibly beautiful. Despite what he believes to be a major shortcoming, he weds her immediately upon returning to the MacDonald castle as he cannot leave any room for error knowing that the MacGregor may yet try to steal her away. When Kyla finally awakens, she has no idea where she is and very little memory of much after she was forced to travel to the MacGregor holdings. When she learns she is the new lady of the clan, she is equal parts angered and bewildered, and she is adamant that she return to her brother's side to save him from his wife's murderous intentions. But her husband is intent on keeping her safe as he has come to care for her more than he ever believed possible and now that he has her, he refuses to let her go. What will happen when Catriona advances her plans to rid herself of her husband and his sister? Will Kyla ever be safe from the MacGregor's tireless efforts to reclaim his intended? And can Galen keep Kyla safe from all of the plots that seem to be against her?What I liked:--- For me, this is a peak Sands HR - it has all the ingredients I enjoy in a romance novel: interesting plot, action, steamy goodness, and likeable main charactersWhat I didn't like as much:--- I don't love unnecessary angst, and there was a little in this one with respect to Kyla where she was out of character SPOILER in reaction to her brother's response to her retelling of the events where he was almost murdered - instead of listening to him, she ran out of the castle and left herself entirely unprotected at the worst possible time - she was a stronger character than that, so while I get that it was a way to get the h in the hands of the villains, it wasn't consistent with the way her character had been portrayed to that point END SPOILER--- This is something that would not bother most people, but I am a direct descendant of the Clan Gregor, so I didn't love that one of the main villains of the story was as completely despicable as he was in this story. MacGregors were cattle thieves that lived in the Loch Lomond area and stuck to that area pretty exclusively (which is nowhere near the borderlands with England). There was never a Gregor laird of English decent (the one in this story was half-English); further, the Gregor clan was constantly feuding with the Campbells - there is no evidence that there was ever a direct conflict with the Clan Donald, mostly because they were not geographically situated near enough to each other for that to be an issue. Obviously, it is the authors prerogative to create the villainous character in whatever form he or she chooses, but most HRs are steeped in some historical fact (ex, which clans were enemies, etc.); this one does not appear to have been at all.Overall, a fast-moving story line with intrigue, action, and a decent helping of steamy goodness that I would recommend to anyone who loves those elements in their HRs!Plot --- 4.5/5Main Characters --- 4.5/5Supporting Cast --- 4.5/5Steam Level* --- 4/5Violence --- nothing graphicLanguage --- not egregiousPOV --- 3rd*Note that steam level is not a rating so much as a how hot was it: 0/5 - clean; 1/5 - mild; 2/5 - sensual but nothing descriptive; 3/5 - now we're getting somewhere; 4/5 - yes please! ; 5/5 - they did EVERYTHING in this one, y'all