Annabel Giles

In 1838, lovely governess Elisabeth Laurier agrees to bear a child of an anonymous English landowner, and he will in return pay her father's debt. At birth, she, as agreed, gives up the child. Seven years later, she is hired as governess to a girl on a remote Sussex estate. The girl's father, Charles Godwin, turns out to be that anonymous landowner. So Elisabeth has to be her own daughter's governess, and she can't reveal the secret of her tie with little Louisa.

Arrogant aristocrat Rupert Campbell-Black has high social position, women at his feet, money and fame in the world of show jumping. But Rupert has a rival - the brooding gypsy Jake Lovell, whose loathing for the "Pin Up of Penscombe" has driven him to the top of the riding world to match Rupert's skills. A bitter feud festers between the two stars, who have fought and fornicated their way round the show rings of the world, and now comes to a showdown at the Los Angeles Olympics. As rivals in love and sport, the stage is set for what becomes a compulsive blend of sex, romance, and adventure.