A forced marriage. A fake identity. One chance.
Ava wholeheartedly wants to explore and live a life of adventure. However, after her parents' deaths, her cousin King James has been Ava's protector, and she's never left the castle without guards.
Ness is a gracious and brave laird, yet his clan is starving, and his authority is challenged by adversaries. To secure an alliance with the King and help his people, he has to marry a royal lass; Ava.
On his way to the marriage, he will stop bandits from attacking a young girl, not realizing it is his future wife trying to escape!
Ness tells her his name and Ava, pretending to be a peasant, makes a plan to act as outrageously as possible to convince Ness that she is unfit for marriage.
A while after her plan is set on motion, she will discover there are far far worse fates than a forced marriage...