Their first meeting is not promising. Sent by the king to
bring the Sophia Raughley home, Adrian Burchard finds her
in another man's arms, at an orgy that includes the young
artists who form her entourage. He soon discovers,
however, that this errant daughter of the nobility hides
secrets and wounds beneath her mask of frivolity, and
possesses a vulnerable sensuality that draws him like no
other woman has.
Sophia resents this man who high-handedly interferes with
her life--a life in which she hides from the past. Worse,
he seems to offer an intimacy that she dare not accept--
until the night when he skillfully seduces her, peeling
away the defenses to her heart as artfully as he does the
layers of her clothing. As Sophia falls under the spell of
his erotic charms, and Adrian finds himself unable to
resist her passionate response, they embark on a dangerous
affair. An affair that will either destroy them both, or
prove the one thing that can save them when mysteries from
the past reach out to entangle the present.