Life as a convict in an Australian penal colony was brutal, but James Hunter had the advantages of raw physical strength and courage on his side. He survived, and now he is back; a self–made man of means, determined to take the bride he was promised. Lady Thea Willers knows nothing of the bargain her father made to save her brother, nor does she have any interest in marriage. It might be a radical idea, but what Thea wants is a career. The revelation that her brother's liberty depends on her marrying James Hunter is devastating. But nothing, it seems, has the power to shake Thea's world upside down like James himself, or the way he makes her feel.