A DESPERATE CHOICE... After suffering under the iron fists of powerful men her whole life, Catherine of Somerset considers herself fortunate when fate makes her a widow and frees her two children from a cruel father's tyranny. But her relief is short-lived. Her even more brutal brother-in-law Eduard, a High Champion of the king, arrives to claim his estate, and Catherine is swept into a nightmare. Eduard offers Catherine a terrible choice: Either she will assume a false identity and marry the fierce warrior knight who is his chief rival, paving the way for the man's murder...or her children will die. That the handsome stranger she is bound to destroy proves honorable and good - deadly on the field, yet gentle and compassionate with her - wrenches her heart. Yet she cannot falter, or her innocent babes will pay the price. A FORBIDDEN PASSION... Baron Grayson de Camville bears a secret of his own - a haunted past that helped shape him into a relentless force of justice as King Henry III's most skillful High Champion. When he agrees to take a bride, Gray merely fulfills his king's command, but neither he nor Catherine is prepared for the passionate completion they find in each other's arms. Desire grows with each moment together, with each sweet touch and soul-shattering kiss, until there is no escape from the ecstasy of their union...or from the lies that threaten to tear them apart. It is a tender trap, and one that can only be broken by surrendering to love and the most dangerous action of all - relinquishing once and for all every one of their... SECRET VOWS