Amongst the wealth and power of
Queen Anne's court...
the young Duchess of Havenhurst honed her skills in seduction and diplomacy. But it was in her father’s house where Selinda first learned the lucrative trade of smuggling stolen gems from some of the world’s most dangerously guarded mines. Married against her will to the Duke of Havenhurst – a man thirty years her senior who neither loved nor wanted her – Selinda found refuge as one of the queen’s courtiers. But when she was suddenly widowed, the young duchess discovered her fortunes were desperately depleted.

Diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires –
the aristocracy had an unquenchable appetite for gems of rare beauty and Selinda found an eager market willing to pay dearly for what she could provide. With ample income to start rebuilding her legitimate estates, Selinda’s world of secrecy and intrigue seemed well on course. That is, until Alexie Wittelsbach, the handsome, dark-eyed captain of the HMS Nemesis, was charged with putting a stop to smuggling and piracy in England’s colonies. With her operations and identity threatened, Selinda gambled everything to succeed in one last venture that would finally free her from financial ruin. But only at the risk of losing all she had gained…and more.