12th Century Scotland, Normandy, and England

Word comes to Lochlan, laird of the MacAllisters, that his brother Kieran might be alive after all. After Kieran's betrayal by a woman and another brother, his plaid and his sword were found on the edge of the loch; he was never seen by his family again. But now, it appears Kieran may have gone crusading instead of dying. Lochlan doesn't know if he'll greet Kieran with a hug as befits a long-lost brother, or beat him down for putting his family through such agony. The last person known to have seen Kieran alive is Lord Stryder of Blackmoor, a former prisoner of the Saracens. Lochlan journeys to Normandy in search of Stryder.

Catarina may be a princess of both Moldavia and France (albeit illegitimate on both sides) but right now she's a prisoner of the brutes her father, King Philip of France, sent to bring her back to marry some old goat, no doubt, to make a political alliance. Cat detests court and even in the face of many beatings has never conformed to its rules. She'd die being caged in a role that would kill her spirit. She may well die anyway, if her kidnappers get any more angry at her, yet she manages to escape. As she flees recapture, who should save her but the staid, stiff, stuffy MacAllister, whom she met when her cousin Nora married his brother Ewan. Lochlan would like to return her to her father once he learns who he is, but he owes Cat's other family a debt for saving Ewan. Family honor wins, and Lochlan promises to return Cat to her maternal uncle and cousin, if she will first accompany him to the tournament where he'll find Stryder. Everywhere they go, more of the king's men are close behind.

Two personalities could not be more different than Lochlan's, the dedicated caretaker of his clan, and Cat's, to whom freedom to laugh and dance is her raison d'être. Yet electricity far older than its name sparks between them.

The Brotherhood of the Sword series and The MacAllisters series are intertwined in Kinley MacGregor's integrated storyworld. While Lochlan is not a member of the brotherhood, those brave knights who formed lifelong bonds as prisoners in the Holy Land, his brother Sin is a member and so is Stryder. And so, it seems, was Kieran. They have all sworn to help and protect each other, and Stryder enlists two other brotherhood members, Kestrel and The Scot, in the search for Kieran. The way is not without danger to Cat's cause, however, nor to their very lives.

If you like wounded heroes, you will adore Ms. MacGregor's books. Her men have all been purified by the fires of adversity. The epitome -- so far -- of the wounded hero is probably Lochlan's bastard half-brother Sin (see BORN IN SIN in the MacAllister series). But even Lochlan was far from the pampered heir of their brutal father. As for her heroines, they, too, had obstacles to happiness to overcome. The times were not easy on women. Still, Ms. MacGregor's works are not so heavy or dark as to make them hard to read. Her touch is light; her characters have the strength to overcome what fate deals them; and the suspenseful plots make the pages fly. Not to mention the stirring of passions.

I still have some earlier MacAllister books to read, but I've had no trouble catching onto the relationships, so the storyworld may be entered at any time. If you start with THE WARRIOR, you'll be pleased, but be warned: you'll also chance an addiction. If you're already a fan, you'll love finally getting Lochlan's tale...and maybe even Kieran's. Check out www.dailyinquisitor.com/ for lots of info on Kinley MacGregor's historical romances and the paranormal romances written as Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Jane Bowers