Just seventeen, Lady Caroline Faye is already the toast of the Season and accustomed to the ways of genteel Society. So when notorious cad Sir Montagu Reversby offers to drive her in his phaeton from London to Sevenoaks, she innocently accepts – little knowing that he is planning to fake a broken axle so that she will be forced to spend the night alone with him at a remote country inn.

But Lady Caroline of made of sterner stuff than the predatory Sir Montagu imagined. Escaping his lecherous clutches, she finds refuge in the imperious Brecon Castle only to discover that her new-found haven and its master, Lord Brecon, harbour dark and terrible secrets. A murderous plot is afoot and Caroline's innocent mistake will come back to haunt her as heartbreak and humiliation in the dark, foreboding castle turn to hope and then ardent, all-consuming passion.