Sensuous free spirit Shanna Trahern takes flight to a lush Caribbean paradise -- leaving the dashing condemned Ruark Beauchamp to the gallows of Newgate Prison. But no hangman's noose will deny Ruark the ecstasy of his true love.

An exquisite beauty in desperate need . . . A condemned man with nothing left to lose . . . A magnificent tale of freedom and passionate destiny from the incomparable storyteller--

Behind the foreboding walls of Newgate Prison, a pact is sealed in secret--as a dashing and doomed criminal consents to wed a beautiful heiress . . . in return for one night of unparalleled pleasure.

In the fading echoes of hollow wedding vows, a promise is broken--as a sensuous free-spirit flees to a lush Caribbean paradise, abandoning the handsome stranger she married to the gallows. But Ruark Beauchamp's destiny is now eternally intertwined with his exquisite, tempestuous Shanna's. And no iron ever forged can imprison his magnificent passion . . . and no hangman's noose will deny him the ecstasy that is rightfully his.