Inheritance

ENGLAND, 1790

At 18 years old, Rebecca Miller has lost everything: her family, her future, her freedom - even her name is changed.

All because a mysterious legacy is suddenly thrust upon her by force of circumstance, the bankrupt Somerville estate.

Penniless and low-born though she is, the name of Somerville is enough to ignite the courtship of the Earl of Marshwood, a wealthy rake three times her age, a man notorious for taking any woman he wishes - however unwilling. Why at this stage of his life is he so desperate to wed a girl way below his station with only a derelict estate to her name? And she is left in no doubt of the disdain in which he holds her, even as he arranges marriage.

From the freedom and lust for learning she has known through childhood, Rebecca's world closes in about her. Now she has no say in what may become of her, condemned to be the plaything of a decadent, cruel man whose power and influence know no bounds.

First she must survive. Then she must strive to seize her independence, and all this in a world where a woman – particularly a young one – is little more than a chattel, a toy to be enjoyed before being cast aside or abandoned to endless childbearing. Rebecca lacks resources and power; time is running out to avoid her imminent marriage. She must flee but has nowhere to go, every law and the expectations of the whole of society stand against her.

In the depths of her despair, unlikely allies appear: Sarah, her stalwart maid; Marie, the exotic and mysterious housekeeper of the Reverend Dean, the churchman who learns of the earl's obsessive search for the legendary Somerville treasure; and Adam Dean, his grandson.

In the end escape involves an undertaking of impossible danger and daring. A coded letter alerts her to the plight of Robert, a childhood friend who is being held by the revolutionary authorities in France. Rebecca sets out to rescue him but is caught in a trap.

Saved by an unlikely rescuer, she must return to England to face her fate, including marriage to a man she hates, fears and despises; a man who wants only this mythical treasure.

If the Somerville treasure even exists. And if it can be found...