Lord Lyon of Normandy had saved William the Conqueror from certain death on the battlefield, yet neither his strength nor his skill could defend him against the defiant beauty the king chose for his wife. Ariana of Cragmere lost her lands and her virtue to the mighty warrior, but the willful beauty swore never to surrender her heart. Saxon countess and Norman knight, Ariana and Lyon were born enemies. And in a land rent asunder by bloody wars and shifting loyalties, they were doomed to misery unless they could vanquish the hatred that divided them-and unite in glorious love.