Racing along the rocky coast of Cornwall, on a night fit for neither man nor beast, Verity Collier's coach is attacked by the notorious highwayman plaguing the Cornish countryside. The villain's commanding strength and cloak of dangerous sensuality haunt the young governess even after she arrives safely at the home of her new employer, Lord Jago Ransleigh, Earl of St. Aubyn.
During the weeks that follow, she quickly grows fond of his two children. But their mother had died an untimely death, and now Verity is being stalked by something unknown and terrifying, and she fears that her own life, too, is at stake! Worse, she has fallen in love with the handsome, enigmatic Ransleigh, and so decides she must discover for herself the truth about his wife's mysterious accident and the equally strange and chilling events now unfolding at the isolated manor house.
As England and France teeter precariously on the brink of war, Verity embarks upon a deadly game of cat and mouse, descending into a dark world of apparitions, robbery, espionage, murder and deceit― where nothing is as it seems and the only true intentions lie within her own brave and noble heart.