Saskia - Ashleigh Bingham

The year is 1810. Europe is in turmoil, and so is the youthful Saskia Beaumont, alone on the family's derelict sugar plantation in the West Indies. Constantly on guard against the predatory advances of a slave-trading neighbour, Saskia also has grave concems for her dashing half-brother, Guy who is 'missing' in Wellington's peninsular campaign. Saskia has not been blessed with great beauty, and lacking any fortune or high connections, she is well aware that her future must be shaped by her own sharp intelligence and enterprise. She flees to stay with her cousins in England, and to the astonishment of all, soon finds herself courted by the recently widowed and wealthy Lord Ashwood, who has returned from the Peninsula to recover from an injury. But Lord Ashwood's motives for wanting to rush Guy Beaumont's unfashionable sister into the marriage bed have a darker significance than Saskia realises. A powerful story that will grip the reader from beginning to end.