For a future world in which no women are born, Seekers are sent back to the past in order to bring forward brides for the rich. One Seeker has a different mission, to stop the plague that created this situation from being released. Rourke is determined to change the future, finding a wife is not a priority, although he has already fallen for Alexis' portrait. Then, he goes back and gets involved with the paranormal researcher and finds himself torn between two worlds.

Time travel paradoxes are fascinating. Although Alexis and Rourke's relationship progresses too rapidly, the premise is original and intriguing enough to overlook the weak points.

Synopsis
The Portrait
In a world where only the wealthiest man has the price of a bride, Rourke of Calandor holds no hope of knowing a wife's gentle touch, or having a helpmate of his own. A rebel against the established order, he will do anything to bring down the Patriarchy, even travel into the past to the place where it all started. Only by painting the likeness of a very special woman could he open the doorway between Blackfell and Philadelphia; only by concentrating his entire being on her could he safely pass through.

The Portal
Alexis Conner has been fascinated by the macabre all her life. As a kid, she loved horror stories and haunted houses; as an adult, she made a career of verifying the paranormal. But the image materializing before her in the charged darkness is no ghost. This is a man, heart stoppingly real, powerful, dangerous. And the first thing he does is crush her into his arms and blow away all her scientific cool with a kiss.