Celia Fussell's Father was dead, and she was reduced to the status of poor relation in the house of her brother -- the new baron -- and his shrewish wife. A life of misery loomed ahead.

But, no. There was hope. Deep in the Black Forest, in the Great Duchy of Baden, was Celia's inheritance. Among fir trees so dark they almost looked black, the Castle of Wolfenbach rose, a skeletal ruin adorned by gargoyles where even locals feared to tread. It was a fortress of solitude, of secrets, of old wounds and older mysteries. But it was hers. And only one thing stood in her way: its former master, the hermit, the enigma . . . the man she was obliged to marry.