For many young women in the middle ages, arranged marriages were a given. For the most part, they were accepted without argument. Danielle O'Connor wasn't one of those women. She couldn't believe her father had foisted her off onto some man she didn't know, and to top it off, he was her father's age. She wanted to make her own decisions and be her own woman. The embers of anger were already burning within her at the news of what she felt as a betrayal by her father and the loss of her life as she knew it, but an invasion moving their way had her and her sister heading for her betrothed's home miles away. However, the Normans attacked quicker than anticipated. Danielle needed to protect her sister and figure out how to save her family. Ian Stabler was sent by his father to O'Connor Keep to rescue the O'Connor family after the invasion of the Normans, not knowing his life was going to take a drastic turn. When a boy keeps trying to interrupt Ian's rescue of the family, Ian must do what needs to be done to save the boy from danger along with the O'Connor family, and the people who served them. When the situation spins out of control for both Ian and Danielle, will they continue to battle what is expected of them, or will they give into their emotions and defy their families?