It is 1810 somewhere in the chaos of war-ravaged Napoleonic Portugal. Miss Charlotte Everslea, dedicated member of an ancient secretive Guild and skilled paranormal artefacts hunter, is hot on the trail of a madman who has stolen an arcane book with the power to change the course of history. Unfortunately, a reversal of fortune for the British troops has left her trapped behind enemy lines pursued by thieves and kidnappers. Colonel Maximillian Bladewood is used to giving orders and having them obeyed, both on and off the battlefield. As eldest of the large untidy Bladewood brood, life has equipped him for most of its vicissitudes, or so he believed. But the petite goldenhaired hoyden, to whose accidental intervention he owes his life, challenges both his authority and his sanity. Their cross-purposed journey is further exasperated by their mutual, undiscussed attraction and an eventual crossroads where one or both of them will need to compromise is looming. Readers of Jayne Ann Krentz and Mary Jo Putney will feel right at home.