Lucy Preston, trying to save a girl she barely knows from a forced marriage to a bad guy, reluctantly rescues a wounded smuggler from the quicksand in Morecambe Bay.

Christopher (Kit) Valliant, a good-hearted younger-son aristocrat with too much time on his hands, determines to uncover his rescuer’s secrets and turn the tables by rescuing her. How hard could it be? But he underestimates the determination of their enemy, and a solution requires the resources of a young woman who wants nothing to do with him.