Lord Raine Westcott never wanted the title he would inherit. He never wanted to return to England. He certainly didn't want a wife. Yet he is an horable man. He leaves his tropical paradise to fulfill a promise he made years before--to marry the heiress, Amelia Beckwith. The task is t as easy as he thought. The mysterious seductress he meets at a masked ball is an intoxicating contrast to his proper and reluctant bride-to-be. Raine becomes torn between two worlds and his future is precariously balanced on the edge. Caught between hor and desire, dark secrets and the truth, great wealth and the killer stalking him. Amelia Beckwith, is promised to a man she does t remember, Lord Raine Westcott, the next Earl of Cotham. What better way to learn about her future husband than behind a mask at a Ball? Naively she imagines the evening will be as romantic and exciting as a scene from her favorite book. The encounter goes terribly wrong and she believes Raine is a scoundrel and t to be trusted. Angry and hurt, she vows she will never love him. Yet, when he is injured during a hunt she kws if he dies a part of her would die with him.