Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, has a problem: he needs to produce an heir. All he wants is to find a lady who will put up with him long enough to wed so he can retreat to his life of debaucherya life that keeps the haunting memories of his past at bay. Knowing Jaspers dilemma, Melisande Fleming seizes her fate and volunteers to marry him. Soon Jasper is entranced by his wifeprim and proper by day, wanton by night. Melisande is determined to keep her husband at a distance. She has loved and lost before and will do anything to keep him from learning her secret: shes been in love with him for years. But to her chagrin, her husband pursues her, wooing her as if she were a paramour, not his wife. As they embark on a passionate game of cat and mouse, secrets from the past begin to resurface threatening to tear them asunder.