Asphodel Quick fights her wicked great-uncle for possession of her grandmother's legacy--the Black Hart Hotel on the remote North York moors. Her uncle demands she marry him or be tossed into the dread Harrowlick Lunatic Asylum. Then a dashing highwayman aids her, firing more than her business desires. Returned from the lawless Australian goldfields to defy the family curse, Farlan Blackitter is the fourth Baron Blackitter--if only he can find the papers to prove it. Acting as a highwayman, he steals the engagement ring of a feisty flame-haired, pub-owning wench--and yields his own blackened heart in exchange. Together Farlan and Asphodel battle all the forces arrayed against them, in an exhilarating race across the wild moors.