Never Secude a Scot by Maya Banks

When Graeme Montgomery receives word from the king that he is to marry the daughter of the clan that murdered his father, he is furious. How could the king ask this of him? Especially as the girl is rumored to be daft and unable to have a normal marriage. With the prospect of passing on his heritage through his own blood gone, he still reluctantly accepts his duty as to refuse would be treason and would end up in his death. Graeme gathers his two brothers and his men and heads off to his rival Armstrongs clan, prepared for the worst and willing to accept his duty. When he lays eyes on the lovely Eveline he is blown away by her beauty and also her easy acceptance of him. He makes a vow to himself that he will protect her at all costs but is stunned when his clam refuses to accept her and treats her badly. How can he help his clam understand that they can not punish the daughter for the sins of the father when in his own mind he still wants to destroy the Armstongs?

Eveline Armstrong is very secure and protected in her clan, especially after a terrible fall from a horse made her lose her hearing, though no one is aware of this.  Circumstances prevented her from speaking as well and to protect herself, she let the charade of her being daft keep going.  When she sees Graeme for the first time she actually feels his voice vibrations and she is instantly taken with him and knows he will protect her.  But upon arriving at his home and experiencing the hatred and ridicule towards her, she is distraught and wants to leave even though her feelings for Graeme have deepened.  The time comes when she must face her past and in the process, she just may lose more than her heart to the rival laird.

Sigh....such a romantic, sexy, heart warming, tear inducing story!!  I loved it!  Eveline was so strong and courageous and faced her demons with a spunk I wish I had.  She taught herself to read lips, even though she can not read or write, and was able to hide the fact she could not hear for three years.  I loved watching her and Graeme interact, with her trying to explain herself without talking.  I admire her courage and what it took to admit the truth about her voice and I admired her even more when an accident occurs and she tells the truth as to what she saw.  And Graeme, swoon.  I really enjoyed the fact that he was not a womanizer, that he was going to stay true to his wife even if the marriage was not going to be everything he hoped for.  Thankfully, our couple is able to express their passion for each other and Graeme's tenderness with Eveline was lovely.  We get to meet the extended families of both, each with two brothers and Graeme with a sister as well.  I adored Graeme for his understanding of taking away a father and mothers only daughter and I thought the resolution near the end for the rival clans was done very well.  There was not much that bothered me about this book expect the fact that Eveline was able to hide the fact she could speak but not hear for so long and one small part that involved Graeme's sister and the women of the clan.  Overall, an absolutely wonderful romance book that any romance fan will not want to miss!  It made me smile, sigh, laugh, cheer and get angry and had me tearing up.  I am so eager for more books from the lovely Maya Banks in this delicious series!  4 1/2 stars

Thank you so much to Random House for providing me with this eARC!!

The Montgomerys and Armstrongs

Feb 26th 2013 (sob!)
Not sure how many more will come after this one...lots of great characters were introduced!!