Being a noble is all about soft beds and plenty of food, or so Jack Tanner always thought. But the other nobles of Derbyshire still treat him like a dirty peasant, he can do nothing to stop the rash of robberies in the forest, and his enigmatic steward, Simon, knows more about running a manor than he does. To top it off, even the return of Madeline, the love of his life, is overcast by the machinations of the beautiful and cunning Lydia. So when King Richard is captured and Derbyshire is asked to raise an impossible sum of ransom money, Jack must make a sacrifice that could destroy his and Madeline's chance of happiness. Lady Madeline risked everything when she defied her father and escaped the convent in order to be with Jack. But their long-awaited reunion is ruined by her father's wrath and the fortune-hunting seductress Lydia. Madeline is smart, but convent life hasn't prepare her to battle for her man. When Jack becomes Lydia's captive, literally and figuratively, Madeline must learn to out-maneuver her rival in order to save the man who once saved her from a fate worse than death.