Ruan was nineteen, shy and unsophisticated, and always overshadowed by her far more glamorous and assured stepsister -- just about the most unlikely candidate, it would seem, for the attention of Tarquin Powers, the handsome and celebrated actor.

So Ruan was flattered as well as wildly happy when Tarquin fell in love with her -- but underneath she was still the timid, unsure girl he had first met; and when the affair ended unhappily Ruan crept back into her shell, too frightened and shattered to face the thought of another love affair.

It was not the most auspicious moment for her to get involved with another man -- least of all that forbidding Cornishman Eduard Talgarth -- but could it nevertheless be second time lucky for Ruan, in spite of her fears?