Jackie’s busy life—as a stableboy each morning and seamstress all afternoon—is threatened when she catches the eye of the local Viscount. Oscar Riese wants her in his bed, and is prepared to ruin her mother to remove all her other choices.
Apollo Allegro, a poor relation to the Rieses, has been Oscar’s steward, secretary, factotum and general dogsbody for more than half his lifetime. Pol works in the background, doing what he can for the locals, and for his frail and fading grandmother. Oscar’s threats to Jackie and her mother are the last straw that drives him into open rebellion.
When Jackie climbs into Riese Hall to steal the money her mother needs for the extortionate rent, their lives intertwine and take a different direction. Pol arranges their joint escape. But escape is not enough. Pol is beginning to uncover the Riese’s crimes, and Lady Riese is determined to eliminate the threat—even if that means killing Apollo, his grandmother and Jackie.
Jackie has more than one climb ahead of her—through the ranks of society and up the wall of a tower—before she and her hero can find their happy ending.