Against the vivid and violent backdrop of war-torn Europe, Lord John Grey pursues a deadly family secret and a clandestine love affair... Seventeen years earlier, Grey's father, the Duke of Pardloe, shot himself just days before he was to be accused of being a Jacobite traitor. By raising a regiment to fight at Culloden, Grey's elder brother has succeeded in redeeming the family name, aided by Grey, now a Major in that regiment. But now, on the eve of the regiment's move to Germany, a mysterious threat surfaces, a threat that opens unwelcome questions about the matter of the Duke's death, and brings the Grey brothers into fresh conflict with the past and each other. From barracks and parade-grounds to the battlefields of Prussia and the stony fells of the Lake District, Lord John's struggle to find the truth leads him through danger and passion, ever deeper, towards the answer to the question at the centre of his soul -- what is most important to a man? Love, loyalty, family name? Self-respect or honesty? Surviving the battle of Krefeld and a searing personal betrayal, John Grey returns to the Lake District to try and find the man who may hold the key to his quest: a Jacobite prisoner named Jamie Fraser.