Book excerpt: This classic New York Times–bestselling historical romance tells the enthralling, passionate story of a young English woman who is wrongly convicted of a crime and auctioned off to the highest bidder in the American colonies Born out of wedlock to a London barmaid, Marietta Danver yearns to live life to its fullest despite her humble origins. But her dreams of love and happiness almost die in Newgate Prison, where she is convicted of a crime she didn’t commit and deported to North America to be sold into indentured servitude. In the wild Carolinas, Marietta uses her beauty to survive. But in doing so she arouses unruly passions in the hearts of three men: Derek Hawke, the enigmatic planter who buys Marietta for an outrageous sum; brash, charming Jeff Rawlins, who sweeps her away to Louisiana; and a gentleman whose fervor may conceal a violent madness. From New Orleans’ red-light district to a fashionable estate in Natchez, from the struggles of a life of bondage to the perils of helping to transport slaves to freedom, Marietta vows to prevail and find a true and lasting love. The Marietta Danver Trilogy also includes Love Me, Marietta and When Love Commands.