Fearless men, their allegiance is to one another, to the oppressed, and to the secret society known as the Brotherhood of the Sword.

Rowena knows what Stryder of Blackmoor is: a warrior, and therefore a man to be shunned. Yet something burns in the eyes of this powerful knight that she has never seen in others of his kind?tenderness, intelligence, understanding. To enter his world would be madness, and a betrayal of every principle by which she has lived.

Duty bound to fight for what is right, Stryder has never wanted home or hearth?not until he laid eyes on the incomparable Rowena, if only he could find some way to blunt her barbs. But when treachery and danger close in, the noble knight must stand as champion to a woman who cannot abide him, though it may cost him his honor and his soul.