The bleak life that Sarah Connolly has always known is finally showing signs of light. She owes this opportunity to a dear elderly friend, who has helped her leave a past of desperate penury in London to live a life of quiet servitude. But in Venice, Sarah soon discovers there is a darker side to the family she has suddenly been thrust among, and walking just beyond her newfound hope is a mysterious shadowy figure. What lurks behind his mask is a darkness that compels her and a passion that makes her doubt everything she wanted...
Sebastian Grimsthorpe, Lord Wortham, once enjoyed a carefree life, but it ended in an explosion of betrayal, deception and violence. Escaping death, he embraces the appearance of it, concealing himself in shadows and behind masks so that he can exact a pitiless revenge upon the man who so nearly destroyed everything he holds dear. But his quest will take an unexpected turn when he is suddenly shaken by a woman whose tragic eyes mystify him-and seduce him into a world of secrets and deceptions...