Catriona Campbell has plenty of unfinished business with Lord Nathaniel Worthington, Viscount of Lincolnshire. He's always lingering around the Highland Roses School where his sisters instruct women in literacy, along with self defense, which Cat helps teach. All her lethality hasn't prepared Cat for the kiss she shared with Nathaniel months past when she healed him from a gunshot wound and now she still can't forget him.

Despite his attraction, Nathaniel knows he should stay away from the fiery Cat. Per the stipulations of his cruel father's will, Nathaniel must marry a lady from a noble and influential family in order to protect his inheritance for himself and more importantly, his sisters.

But when an urgent letter from Queen Catherine necessitates Cat's immediate departure for London, Nathaniel offers to escort her. The close quarters of the long journey, without anyone to serve as a buffer between them, ignite the sparks that have been kindling between them for months. But Nathaniel has secrets that could see them both burned, especially with the treacherous atmosphere they encounter at court, a threat to their lives as much as to any hopes they may have for a future together.

With a father who loved drinking and warring until battle killed him and a mother driven to the grave by her own grief, Cat is used to independence. She's had to care for herself and her younger sister and is now determined to never marry or succumb to love and the weakness she feels it brings. Nathaniel will make his sisters destitute if he follows his true desires but rapidly finds his priorities shifting.

Like its predecessor in the series, this book has intrigue and some vile villains but I enjoyed it a bit more for not being quite as stress inducing. I loved that Cat was so strong and yet still willing to be vulnerable and even with that willingness to open up, her strength was never in doubt. I loved how much Nathaniel grew and changed and how he was willing to give up everything to be with Cat.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.