At the age of 6, while the enemy is approaching her home, little Adair Radcliffe learns that her father is really the King of England and she is being sent to him with her nurse and wolfhound to be raised. She is told by her mother and stepfather, who raised her as his own, that by morning she would be the Countess of Stanton as all at stanton would be dead by then. She spends the next 10 years in the King's nursery being raised and treated not as his bastard daughter but with the same treatment as his legitimate children. But Adair has a lot of political savvy about her and when she learns the king has arranged a marriage she runs away to Stanton. The king has her married by proxy and sends her 14 year old husband to her. Within a year he is dead. She then marries the youngest son of a neighbor and is relatively happy. Together they restore Stanton to its former glory. This husband is killed in a border war. After he father, the King of England dies and his brother the next king dies in battle the new king, Henry of Tudor and his wife her half sister, summon her to court and strip her of her title and lands and send her away. She returns to Stanton only to be captured in a Scottish raid and sold to Conal Bruce, Laird of Cleit, as his servant. She serves him as his housekeeper and mistress until both realize that they are in love. Eventually they marry. They become involved in the overthrow of James III of Scotland. His son, James IV, takes the throne. James IV and his advisors are astonished at her knowledge of English politics and heed much of her advice. It is learned that a Scottish traitor is using Stanton as his hideout and she devises a plan to take it away from the traitor and totally destroy the property so the Stanton legacy and the Radcliffe name will not be dishonored.
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This story is full of Adair's courageous actions and ability to survive in spite of all the horrendous things that happen to her and how in spite of it all she holds out for love in her 3rd marriage and how in the end her loss of Stanton is overshadowed by the love she and Conal have for each other.
The review of this Book prepared by plnorth
