Maud Heighton came to Lafond's famous Academie to paint, and to flee the constraints of her small English town. It took all her courage to escape, but Paris, she quickly realizes, is no place for a light purse. While her fellow students enjoy the dazzling decadence of the Belle Epoque, Maud slips into poverty. Quietly starving, and dreading another cold Paris winter, Maud is hired by Christian Morel as companion to his beautiful, young sister, Sylvie....

Cumbria, England, 1783. The tomb of the first Earl of Greta should have lain undisturbed on its island of bones for three hundred years. When an extra body is discovered in the ancient crypt, however, Gabriel Crowther and forthright Mrs. Harriet Westerman travel to the Lake District to investigate. Gabriel Crowther's family, marked by its own bloodied legacy, brought the Gretas' land long ago. His brother was hanged for murdering their father, the...