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Prologue

December 1, 1819

Casphairn Manor, the Vale of Casphairn

Galloway Hills, Scotland

She'd never had a vision like it before Eyes-blue, blue-blue as the skies over Merrick's high head, blue as the cornflowers dotting the vale's fields They were the eyes of a thinker, far-sighted yet focused

Or the eyes of a warrior

Catriona awoke, almost surprised to find herself alone Fro bed, she scanned her fa the bed, their ht across the s beyond which the windwinter to any still awake In the grate, elow over polished wood, the soft sheen of the floor, the lighter hues of chair and dresser It was deep night, the hour between one day and the next All was reassuringly nored

Yet it had

Her heart slowing, Catriona tugged the covers about her and considered the vision that had visited her-the vision of a ly etched in herwith the conviction that this e on her life in some vital way

He ht even be the one The Lady had chosen for her

The thought was not unwelcoirls invited lovers to their beds, when sherite Not that she regretted that her life had been otherwise, which was just as well, for her path had been set from the instant of her birth She was "the lady of the vale"

The title, one of local custom, was hers and hers alone, none other could claim it As the only child of her parents, on their deaths, she'd inherited Casphairn Manor, along with the vale and its attendant responsibilities Hermanor, lands, and position from her mother before her Each of her direct female ancestors had been "the lady of the vale"