In Jamestown 1785, Emeline Winthrop dreams of marrying a dashing groom... When Em's parents bestow her hand to a coldhearted widower three times her age, she's desperate. On the eve of her engagement, she escapes to the James River and stows away aboard an acquaintance's rigger. Commander Miers Redding would never have dreamed of pirating in his naval days... However, partnering with the unsavory Captain Crawley is the only way to complete his dangerous mission. When a young lady sneaks aboard The Black Rose, his cover is nearly blown, but the quick-thinking commander saves their skins by pretending to be her husband. A façade as newlyweds during a dangerous, whirlwind voyage to the Caribbean is bound to convince not only the pirate crew of the couple's affections, but possibly each other. Yet the mystifying Virginia belle is hiding something from him... And what, exactly, is Commander Redding's mysterious mission? These secrets could end their love, their mission-and their lives.