Available as paperback and e-book. Winner of 2003 Dream Realm Award

Cast in Steel, Carved in Stone. Ancient words he doesn’t understand define Mikkel’s existence. What he does understand is that his life depends on Yule, a planet that threatens to explode beneath his feet if he doesn’t produce an heir.

In exchange for her world’s safety, Katrina consents to marry this stranger from Yule with a wardrobe more colorful than hers. She’s even willing to put up with his all-night meetings and dancing with tourists. But when Mikkel starts showing up battered and bruised, and she discovers he’s been consorting with spies, she has to intervene. Even if it means betraying her husband in the arms of a bandit with a wicked kiss she can’t forget.

Mikkel isn’t a diplomat, not even a good conversationalist, but he does control the one piece of real estate where Emperor Thane has consented to hold a peace conference. If he can keep Yule from blowing the delegates into tiny pieces, all Mikkel will have to worry about is how to tell his wife that he knows her secrets—and he loves her anyway.