Highland Brides (Crosby)

Descended of the legendary sons of MacAlpin, Iain MacKinnon refuses to bow to the English. When his young son is captured by a minion of the English king, the fierce Scottish chieftain vows to stop at nothing to secure the lad's return. Retaliating in kind, he captures the daughter of his enemy, planning to bargain with the devil. FitzSimon's daughter has lived her entire life in the shadow of the man she called father--yet never would she have imagined he would forsake his only daughter.

Catrìona is no stranger to solitude. Driven deep into the Highland mountains, her kinsmen have become little more than legend. But no one knows better than Cat that you cannot hide from fate. Naked and painted in the woad of her ancestors, she appears to Gavin Mac Brodie. But is she flesh and blood—a chance for a future—or just a faerie creature who will vanish if Gavin dares to open his heart?

Eleven years later, FitzSimon is a broken man. He is forsaken, alone, a wretch left to wallow in his grief. A scrooge to rival Ebenezer, he is visited by the ghost of his dead wife, who has come to reveal what life has been, what it could be, and where it will end if the candle burns out before FitzSimon has made amends.