Nicole Aldridge, the only child of England's most acclaimed jockey, is driven by one goal: to protect her father from merciless blackmailers. With Nick forced to give up his career and go into hiding, his daughter Nicole, an expert rider who grew up at her father's knee, disguises herself as a boy to compete in the celebrated Derby. But when her new employer, Dustin Kingsley, the Marquis of Tyreham, suspects something is amiss, she is torn between her growing feelings for him and her desperate need to keep her father safe.
Die Aldridge. The painted words pierced Nicole's soul like the fatal stab of a dagger.
Nicole Aldridge, daughter of England's most acclaimed jockey, Nick Aldridge, whisks her father into hiding to protect him from blackmailers who have threatened his life for refusing to throw a race. Desperate to keep her father safe and the two of them fed, Nicole dresses as a boy and answers an ad addressed to her father by the Marquis of Tyreham. As Nick's "protégé," she wins the position of jockey, hired by the marquis to run the race of a lifetime: the celebrated Epsom Derby.
Dustin Kingsley, Marquis of Tyreham, renowned as a thoroughbred breeder and the ton's most sought-after bachelor, is restless, empty-until he meets the beautiful stranger sitting by the Thames. Determined to win Nicole's heart, Dustin plunges headlong into the ominous mystery eclipsing their future, hell-bent on convincing Nicole that he's the only man for her. An impossible masquerade, a never-to-be-forgotten Derby, and a cherished wishing locket propel Nicole and Dustin toward a climactic finish, where danger threatens a love destined by wishes and fate to prevail.
