"Four years after being drugged and tricked into marriage with fourteen-year old Willow Givanchy, the unwanted daughter of his deadliest enemy and a reputed witch, Gerard Lytton returns home from America to find his wife and family changed. His mother is dead and his child bride has become a beautiful and capable woman, who has taken her place as mistress of the estate. His father is ill and close to death.

Brought up in Ireland by a male tutor, Willow excels in the manly arts of fencing and shooting. She has become well-loved within the Lytton family circle, and has lost none of her fiery independence, even while she longs to take her place by her husband's side and become a ""proper"" wife to him.

But although nobly born, Willow cannot deny her mother's dark reputation, or her father's dishonour . . . and neither can Gerard forget it. Willow's past becomes a problem to them both even while they fall in love. When Willow's mother appears, it coincides with that of a raven. A series of mysterious events unfold and they cause an obstacle that threatens to tear Gerard and Willow apart for ever."