Talk of Dumb Lukey's crazed acts and the romance between Lucinda and Joe Lee, the Thames bargee. Talk of the Crimea and the terror of Napoleon.At the tavern, hard-headed Beatrice and her sister Dot care for their invalid father and for Lucinda, their pretty orphaned niece. The inn is their livelihood but village business is ever Beat's business too. And now some dark cloud has descended on them all . . .

    First he arrived in London to orchestrate her entry into society, and then he demanded she wed him to avert scandal. It would be humiliating to be his wife--and disaster to let him suspect she was in love with him!