The Ruby Pendant

When Lieutenant Pierre Veillard, a French prisoner of war, paints Juliette Martindale's portrait as a French aristocrat in sumptuous clothes of satin and brocade, wearing an ostentatious ruby pendant, and not the gentle, innocent daughter of Viscount Martindale clad in muslin, he sets off an avalanche of mystery, lies and betrayal that threatens her very existence. Her parents are so shocked, Juliette is packed off to London for a Season where she meets Philip Devonshire, a young friend of her father's whom entrusts him to escort her, and a cousin she has never met before who is the heir to the Martindale estate and whom she is expected to marry. She does not like him and cannot understand this haste to have married off, but her mother's reasons are compelling. To avoid it she allows herself to be inveigled into helping some French prisoners of war escape and finds herself in France and here she meets Philippe Devereux, who captures her heart. But no one is who they say they are, danger is everywhere, and she longs to return to England. But how? Who can she trust?