Betrayed by the one she had began to look to for support, Audelia Rolfen seeks freedom by running...and running. But the journey isn't easy and the outside world is a dreadful place. Nothing comes for free. To survive, she must endure. And to endure, she learns that her best option is to retrieve a few coins to get by. Even if it meant stealing them. Ulric St. Rosso, Lord of Chastelle is known to be a bitter recluse, his only friend a companion from his childhood days. But when he travels to a neighboring town on business, he's appalled to find himself the victim of an intended robbery--the culprit, a slip of a girl dressed in breeches, no less. But as time passes rapidly, his contempt for the little thief quickly transforms into lust..and into something else entirely that he dared not admit to himself.