Ondine is a romance novel first published in 1988 under Heather Graham Pozzessere's pen name, Shannon Drake.

It is the story of a lady of 17th century England who finds herself cast from nobility when her father is accused of treason and murdered.

She is once again given that chance when Lord Chatham, hoping to use the lady to solve the murder of his wife, takes her hand in marriage to save her from the hangman's rope.

A year later, Warwick is traveling to his home in North Lambria when he meets a death procession.

After asking his coachman, Jake, if it is true that a woman can be saved from the gallows if someone takes her in marriage, he tells him to follow the procession.

Her only thought is of leaving him, but after trying to escape once, she realizes that being Warwick's wife can provide her with the protection she needs to devise a plan to clear her father's name.

Through constant bickering with Warwick, she is able to play the part of his wife in front of his brother and the servants.

As soon as Charles II and her have a moment alone, he informs her that he believes her innocent of treason and encourages her to play Warwick's game then return home to clear her father's name.

Once back in the Chatham manor, Ondine is attacked by a hooded figure in a mask and pushed into the family tomb.

Ondine is constantly confused by Warwick's actions because she doesn't know that he truly loves her and is pushing her away to protect her.

Ondine returns to her home, Deauveau Place, in the hopes of finding the forged papers that incriminate her and her father.

In the meantime, Warwick has visited Charles II and learned the truth of Ondine's secret.

At a nearby tavern, Warwick, Clinton, Justin, and Jake inquire about the Deauveau Place.

Knowing that William wants a physician to examine her, Ondine tells Raoul that while she was gone she had married a peasant.

Knowing that she has bought herself some time, she breathes easier until Warwick visits her in her room that night, and she is renewed with fear by the danger he presents to the both of them by being there.

Before Warwick learns her true identity, Ondine is exceedingly frustrated with the idea of her lowering in social status.

"She wanted to cry out that she was a duchess in her own right, that she should have been able to spit at her arrogant earl of a husband's sharply voiced order".

[1] The roles are reversed later in the novel when Ondine is back at Deauveau Place as Duchess and Warwick gets himself hired on as the blacksmith.

A common plot device used in romance novels is to throw two characters together who just can't get along.

There is also the mystery of the rumored curse surrounding Warwick's family, particularly in the instance of his grandmother's death.

There are many elements of the gothic genre present in Ondine: mysterious deaths, ghosts, secret passageways, masked figures, and darkness.

[5] Later in the novel, it states, "Ondine, a mythical creature, granted eternal life through marriage to a mortal".