The Marquis of Amberley is rich, assured and thirty-four years old, with the reputation of being a law unto himself and a degree of charm which even his friends consider disastrous.When his coach is waylaid by highwaymen and his coachman shot, he is forced to take shelter at the first house he finds and is subsequently trapped there for a week by a severe snow storm.Oakleigh Manor is the home of beautiful, twenty-two year-old Rosalind Vernon who lives alone but for her devoted servants and an ill-natured parrot, cut off from the outside world by the tragic result of a childhood accident. But Rosalind is brave and bright and totally devoid of self-pity - and it is these qualities which, as the days pass and the snow continues to fall, cause Amberley to fall in love.On his return to London, the Marquis persuades Rosalind's brother, Philip, to bring her to town for a taste of society - a move which, despite her handicap, Rosalind handles brilliantly.But the course of Amberley's courtship is far from smooth for, due to a misapprehension, Philip Vernon actively dislikes him and Rosalind appears to be falling under the spell of the suavely elegant Duke of Rockliffe. Worse still, Amberley is haunted by a dark and terrible secret that, if revealed, may cause him to lose Rosalind forever.Extract from Chapter Three'Please sit down and get warm,' the girl invited as she moved away across the room. Her fingers trailed lightly along the back of a sofa and she came to rest beside a side-board upon which stood decanters and glasses. 'Will you have some burgundy? At least, I think it's burgundy - though it may turn out to be port. Are you prepared to take your chances, sir?' 'Willingly,' he replied, crossing to her side. 'But I must apologise for my disreputable appearance and confess that I feel lamentably out of place.' Her smile was replaced by a look of doubt. 'I'm sorry?' The Marquis felt vaguely baffled. Her composure was remarkable, her manner refreshingly natural and she seemed anything but a fool - so why did she appear not to understand his meaning? 'Well, it's true that I'm not exactly dripping on your carpet,' he said lightly, 'but my coachman's blood and a short spell on the box of my carriage have done little to improve the elegance of my coat.' 'You drove your coach here?' she asked blankly. 'Yes.' Her eyes, he noticed were neither blue nor black but actually an exquisite shade he could only describe as violet. They widened suddenly and, instead of handing him the glass, she set it down again with a little snap. 'And you're wet! Oh - I do beg your pardon. Lawson should have told me.' She sounded mortified and Amberley, who was beginning to feel that some vital point was eluding him, said weakly, 'It is really of very little moment, I assure you - merely that I'm not fit to grace your parlour.' Something must have given him away for he heard a tiny sound as the breath caught in her throat and then she said quickly, 'I'm sorry. You see, I so rarely meet people who don't know that I tend to forget ... ' She stopped but only for a second. 'If your appearance has caused you embarrassment on my account, you may disregard it. I am blind.'The Parfit Knight is a stylish Georgian romance set in 1774 involving malice and misunderstandings, danger in Vauxhall Gardens and a duel - and featuring Broody, the anti-social parrot.