A vulnerable young widow falls for a charming but ruthless smuggler.

When Harriet Penhallow is left widowed, she and her two children are forced to accept the charity of her late husband's aunt. Having uprooted themselves from their life in Bath, they move into a comparatively isolated and rundown cottage on the south coast of Cornwall, nestling above a little inlet known as Prussia Cove. Little does Harriet know, but it's the center of Cornish smuggling.

One of the ringleaders is the charismatic Jack Trevelyan, captain of The Fly and only son of Harriet's kind new neighbor. It doesn't take her long to work out Jack is a smuggler, despite him being a gentleman and despite the fact that she's beginning to have feelings for him. For his part, Jack, even though he's immediately attracted to her, suspects she might have been sent to spy on his activities.

Then, one night, Caroline's twelve-year-old son sneaks down to the cove where The Fly is anchored, and she goes after him. When they hear the crew returning, they hide-before they know it, they're at sea and too frightened to reveal themselves. When daylight comes, they're discovered, but it's too late to take them back to Cornwall. They're forced to continue on to the smugglers' rendezvous in Brittany.

However, being part of this crew, even inadvertently, does not come without its dangers, and on the way back to Cornwall, The Fly is spotted by a revenue cutter...

The Cornish Ladies Series

Book 1 - The Cornish Mermaid

Book 2 - The Cornish Bride

Book 3 - The Cornish Inheritance

Book 4 - The Cornish Widow