'Take off your clothes, ' he commanded. She shivered and bent to unlace her boots. 'No, ' he said slowly, 'start with your blouse. I want to see what it is I've won.'The New Year sky is heavy with snow on the night Helen surrenders her body to a stranger. She loses her virtue on the roll of a dice and the wager sets tongues wagging. Though there are many illicit goings-on in the Fens in the 1920s, for the squire's sister-in-law to run off with a boatman is a scandal.But brave and beautiful Helen doesn't care.

If she finds winter warmth and steamy romance in the strong arms of Jack Hartman then that, so she thinks, is a private affair.