New York Times-bestselling author Amanda Quick, called "an exceptional storyteller" by the Los Angeles Daily News, and "one of the best and brightest voices in the romance genre" by Booklist, presents a novel of thrilling historical romantic suspense, set in late Victorian England.

"Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) gives her fans what they want in her latest historical romance, set in a movieland Victorian England. Concordia Glade, a teacher with past secrets and unconventional ideas about educating women, meets Ambrose Wells, a 'private inquiry agent' with secrets of his own and an unusual tattoo, as she and her four orphaned pupils flee Aldwick Castle, which they have set on fire to hide their escape. Ambrose escorts the lovely fugitives to safety, protecting them from the criminal mastermind and his aristocratic partner who'd kept them as part of a dastardly plan to use them for profit and pleasure. Concordia returns the favor by helping Ambrose investigate the mysterious death of a London woman. Courteous, daring, resourceful, Concordia and Ambrose can't wait to ravish each other repeatedly. Who but Quick (The Paid Companion, etc.) finds such joy in chestnuts such as the boy thief mentored by the rich man he tries to rob? Or the dilettante solving cases Scotland Yard can't? Quick plunges into every clich ('Sensation after sensation coursed through her, leaving no room for uncertainty, let alone any sense of modesty'), but energizes her fluid narration with modern sensibilities, gutsy leads and romantic excesses. There's nothing new here, but that's part of Quick's great appeal. Agent, Steve Axelrod. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

A novel of thrilling historical romantic suspense, set in late Victorian England, this is the tale of an unconventional teacher fleeing with her charges from a notorious London crime lord. She has no choice but to trust the fierce private agent who has offered his aid.

Amanda Quick is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, who is the author of forty New York Times bestsellers under various pen names; there are more than 25 million copies of her books in print.