The wild Highland lass whose outdated dress and clan tartan incites gossip and speculation among London society carries an astonishing secret. Catherine McClelland knows that the curse plaguing her family must set her eternally apart from the world. She dares not marry, for if any man were to learn the truth of what she's so carefully hidden, the cost could be her life. Yet she has little choice when her father suddenly blackmails Nicholas, duke of Efington, into marriage with her in a desperate attempt to break the curse.

Against the backdrop of the moonlit moors, Nicholas and Catherine are drawn to each other with a fervent desire. And yet Nicholas senses a mystery lurking beneath her green-eyed beauty that could tear them apart. As he comes closer to understanding the curse, menacing forces and stubborn beliefs threaten both their lives. Haunted by an inexorable legend, they feel its darkness closing in like a cold Highland mist, a darkness only their love can banish forever....