A string of tragic loves haunts Viscount Benedick Francis Alistair Rohan. Cynical and world-weary, he wants a proper wife he can ignore while indulging his appetites. But Lady Melisande Carstairs is nothing less than a tornado storming into his measured life. And when she informs Benedick that his brother's newly revived Heavenly Host has graduated from carnal debauchery to sadistic violence, he's compelled to investigate ... undercover.

Few outsiders will ever witness the dark misdeeds of the Heavenly Host. And within this secret society, where exiled Georgian aristocrats gather to indulge their carnal desires, fewer still can match the appetite of Viscount Rohan. Now Rohan has encountered the fascination of a woman who won't be swayed. Although appalled by his dark seduction, the pure and impoverished Elinor Harriman is intrigued by the man behind the desire.