From the seaside villas of France to the sumptuous drawing rooms of London's Victorian aristocracy comes a tale of star-crossed lovers desperate to escape their irresistible—and terribly inconvenient—passion

When Grace Godwyn is introduced to her soon-to-be fiancé's closest friend, she can hardly keep from fainting. The man whose angry gaze confronts her is none other than the handsome stranger who came to her aid in a dark French alleyway. The stranger with whom she'd shared a moment of reckless passion. And now, with a single word, he could destroy her one chance for security.

Julian St. John, Lord Knighton, owes his friend too much to allow him to fall into the clutches of a craven fortune hunter. He knows all he needs to know of Grace Godwyn: that she's the orphaned and penniless daughter of a disgraced viscount; that her lips taste incomparably sweet. There is no way he is going to allow this marriage to take place.

Yet the more time Julian and Grace are forced to spend in each other's company, the more irresistible their desire grows—and the more devastating the potential consequences.