Lydia Fostyn is being coerced into marrying an odious older man when Ralph Latimer, Earl of Blackwater, returns from exile and stirs up painfuland passionatememories.
Ralph is responsible for the tragedy that brought about her family's hard time, and he decides he must do the honourable thing and marry the beauty. But, as drawn to Lydia as he is, dare he get involved with a woman who appears to be aiding and abetting smugglers on his land near the Essex marshes?