Jamie Montgomery, an impoverished Norman knight, is elated when he is assigned to escort Axia, the Lancaster heiress, to the castle of her betrothed. If only she will fall in love with him, the family's financial problems will be solved.
But Axia is hell-bent on enjoying her precious moments of liberty before her unwanted marriage. After curtly informing Jamie not to bother with his advances, she makes his life a misery, sneaking off with the villagers, nearly breaking her neck on a runaway horse, and doing everything possible to delay the trip.
But Jamie begins to realise that he savours even her most barbed words… that he is falling in love with this bold, maddening beauty. Now he must contrive a plan to win back her freedom – along with her proud, defiant heart.