Description

"What are you doing?" the man asked again. His voice was soft as a rose petal.
"Picking roses." Janet took a step to one side, where she wouldn't have to stare into the sun. He turned with her and the afternoon sun illuminated his face: high, wide cheekbones beneath eyes as bright and blue as the sky. His full lips were pressed together with displeasure.
"Carter Hall is mine," he said in his too calm, too quiet tone. "Those are my roses."
"Yours?" Janet asked. "It's in the middle of Chaster's Wood and Chaster's Wood is mine. My father gave it to me." Or he would, when she asked him to.
"No one comes to Carter Hall without leave from me."
"I'll come and go as I please." Janet lifted her chin stubbornly. "And I'll ask no leave of you."

In the ruins of Carter Hall, headstrong Lady Janet Dunbar encounters a mysterious stranger. Tam Lin claims Carter Hall as his own, yet Janet believes it to be part of her own lands. Thus begins a battle of wills — and as Janet seeks to assert herself mistress of Carter Hall, she realizes how much more there is at stake…

Tam Lin, also known as Child Ballad 39, has been retold many times in many mediums. This version is not intended for readers under 18.