His Border Bride by Blythe Gifford

His Border Bride

By Blythe Gifford

Harlequin Historical

ISBN: 13:978-0-373-29594-4

Gavin Fitzjohn has the blood of an unwed Scots woman and an English king running through him. In 1359 Scotland, that isn’t a good heritage combination. Scotland and England are fighting over the border land. He chooses Scotland as his home, but others don’t accept or trust him, especially, Claire Carr, Mistress of Carr Tower. She wants nothing to do with the unknown, war tore knight that rides unannounced onto her land. Her plans are to marry a chivalrous knight from France and live by courtly rules. Gavin has had enough of chivalry and death. He wants to settle down, have a home and a wife that welcomes him.

Claire is attracted to Gavin but her self- imposed rules won’t let her give in to her desires. When the French knight doesn’t want her for a wife, her father says she must marry Gavin, so there will be a strong man to hold Carr lands. She unhappily agrees to the marriage and finds that she can let go of her restricting rules during her nights with Gavin.  After a few months of marriage, Gavin is sent to be a part of the peace treaty group to London. He is gone for a number of months. Claire’s insecurities return during that time, making her push Gavin away when he comes home. He goes back to England as a hostage to replace a Scotsman in the hopes of showing Claire where his true alliance lies.  Will Claire cross the invisible border and fight to have him back?

This is a great book especially if you enjoy history along with romance. Blythe Gifford did a wonderful job on her research and the attitudes of the time. I know Blythe.  She was doing some of the falconry research while in South Carolina during a write-in week. That area of the book was really interesting to me because I realize where she’d gotten all the information.  Read this one, you’ll like it. I plan to read Blythe’s backlist and look forward to reading her future works .