1800's: An arranged marriage, a shipwreck, two murders, swashbuckling pirates, a lecherous sailor, a guilty midwife, a handsome seaman and a spunky heroine with a mind of her own. On board the Falcon in the West Indies seas, Anne Landry is furious when she learns her father has agreed with the Duke of Denwick that she will marry the Duke's son, Earl Reginald Rumford. The Earl is a pompous, self-centered sot; she has no intention of ever marrying him. But just before her father is swept overboard in a wild storm that sinks the ship, he makes her promise to honor his agreement with the Duke...a promise that she cannot keep. Can reason or even defiance get her out of this unacceptable marriage? Or is the Earl cruel enough to hold her to the agreement as well? And why can't she stop thinking about Seaman Anthony Clearhaven, the mysterious man who always seems to show up in the nick of time? Will she become the Countess of Denwick against her will? Or could fate lead her into the arms of the man of her dreams?