Both Geraldine MacKenny and Bas Deverill escaped to the goldfields in search of something - for him, a fortune; for her, independence; for both, freedom. Neither expected the fields to yield so much more. 1860s, Otago, New Zealand Geraldine finds the life of a wealthy runholder's daughter stiff and constraining. On the goldfields, she has the opportunity to be so much more: independent, responsible, strong. But her freedom is short - lived when she is noticed by notorious bandit Black Jack MacRae - a man who is used to getting what he wants and who never takes no for an answer. Cheerful, casual, uncommitted - that's the way Bas likes his life on the goldfields. He may be of aristocratic blood, but he thrives on the challenges of commerce and the freedom of the colonies. Rescuing a beautiful girl from the grasp of Black Jack MacRae, however, throws his whole life into turmoil. Geraldine seems to be a magnet for trouble, and the goldfields are a long way from civilisation. Taking her under his wing only makes sense, but Bas has no intention of letting her get any further under his skin. He might want to bed her, but that is no reason to risk falling to the prison bars of respectability - is it?