Velvet de Marisco, youngest of Skye's children, and Adam's beloved daughter, is the wife of the Earl of BrocCairn. Believing her husband killed in a duel, Velvet goes off with her brother to meet their parents in India. But the Portuguese governor of Cambay, angry at the de Mariscos, kidnaps Velvet, and sends her as a gift to Akbar, the Grand Mughal of India. The Mughal falls in love with his English rose, making her his 40th wife. Content with her new life, and her baby daughter, Yasaman, Velvet is horrified to find that the earl is not dead. She is forced to return to Englan, but Akbar will not allow her to take her child. Heartbroken, Velvet must use all her wiles to reunite herself with the earl.

16th C. England and India

From the brochure "The Novels of Bertrice Small"