Brutally dispossessed during the Highland Clearances, Tam Sutherland comes to the hiring fair at Oban, Scotland hoping to find a job for the season. But his maimed right hand, inflicted by the same cruel factor responsible for his parents' deaths, means he's one of few men available when the beautiful woman makes her surprising announcement: she's looking not for a hand but a husband, not just for the season but forever. Annie MacCallum is under threat from a brutal factor also, back at her home farm-one who preys on unmarried women. If she's to protect all those who rely on her, including her beloved animals, she must have a husband, if only in name. Secretly glad when the attractive Tam takes up her proposition, she doesn't realize she's dragging him into a situation that will trigger old demons. Nor does she expect to give him her heart.