On his return voyage to England, Jack helps in the defeat of a privateer, gains a friend in a charismatic Irishman, Red-Hugh MaCluahan, along with a large share of the prize money and a nasty dose of cholera. Saved by Red-Hugh, Jack convalesces in Bath where he falls in love with the man's beautiful cousin, Laetitia. But this romance soon turns to tragedy. For there is more than love disguised in Bath. The Irishman is using the affair to lure Jack from his rooms that overlook the Circus and use them for political intrigue: on the day set for the elopement, the King is coming to Bath and Red-Hugh plans to assassinate him - for the exiled King James III and all Jacobites. Jack foils the plot but, because he owes him his life, allows the Irishman to escape the noose. Red-Hugh flees to Rome, taking Laetitia with him. Jack pursues to infiltrate the enemy. But recognised and betrayed by Red-Hugh, he spends the winter in jail. He escapes to discover that Laetitia has married an aged Roman count to gain money and power for the cause and that Red-Hugh has gone to Portugal, to join an Irish regiment raised to fight the Spanish. Jack's own regiment, the 16th Dragoons is also there and Jack rejoins them to fight the war, charge with the cavalry at Valencia de Alcantara and defeat the schemes of the Irish traitor...

Author Biography

C.C. Humphreys was born in Toronto, Canada, and grew up in Los Angeles and London. A third generation actor and writer on both sides of his family, he returned to Canada in the nineties and there his writing career began. He was a schoolboy fencing champion, became a fight choreographer and turned his love of swashbuckling towards historical fiction. He is married and lives in North London.