PLEASE NOTE: This book may have an alternate cover. The following description is provided as a guide only and may contain text that doesn't specifically relate to this item. Amazon.com . . . .In Ransom, New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood returns to her beloved Highlands and the dark days of the despotic rule of King John to reacquaint readers with Scottish chieftain Brodick Buchanan, first introduced in The Secret. Brodick finds himself playing protector to Gillian, an exquisite English beauty, who is desperate to find her long-lost sister and a treasure of incalculable worth--one for which many already have died, including Gillian's own father. Coerced by the fiendish Baron Alford, who murdered her father before her eyes and usurped her birthright 14 years earlier, Gillian must return to England with Arianna's Box, a bejeweled golden box commissioned by King John, or her beloved Uncle Morgan will be tortured to death. In spite of Gillian's fragile looks and her loathsome English bloodlines, Brodick encounters a woman of immeasurable courage and determination, one not at all intimidated by his legendary temper or imposing size. And as he realizes that he has met his match in Gillian--whose sense of honor and duty equals his own--their passion for each other grows ever stronger in this thrilling historical. --Alison Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. . . . . . . . .From Library Journal . . . .In The Secret (Pocket, 1997), Garwood introduced fans to Brodick Buchanan and Ramsey Sinclair, then left us dangling for years with the hint that Brodick and Ramsey were going wife-hunting to find the happiness Laird Ian Maitland found in his Judith. Well, they don't seem to have remembered the purpose of their quest, possibly because each is too busy being laird of his own clan. When Lady Gillian arrives in Scotland to search for her long-lost sister and to return a kidnapped boy to the Maitlands, she pulls Brodick away from his duties by claiming to be his bride. Her guardian, Baron Alford, believes her sister holds the key to a treasure King John is desperate to find. Alford, the man responsible for killing Gillian's father, uses her uncle as a ransom against her return. Gillian needs Brodick's help to locate her sister, who is believed to be hiding within Ramsey's clan. When the two strong-willed people meet, tempers flare and sparks fly. Jan Maxwell provides an excellent interpretation of the nuances of Garwood's writing, but the abridgment itself leaps too quickly across important plot points and lingers on background material, leaving listeners to wonder ‘What happened?’ Wait for the unabridged version. Not recommended.AMelanie C. Duncan, Washington Memorial Lib., Macon, GA . . . .Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
