As the last male heir, Ian has inherited a dukedom after the death of a distant cousin, a legitimate title he can now claim proudly. With his new title, and the enormous wealth that comes with it, he feels it's finally time to marry and breed some respectable heirs, to at last let go of the vague memories of being held captive and drugged five years before. Widowed at twenty-three, Viola has become a self-sufficient young woman living in London and raising her son. She wants no part of her former life, especially now that she has a titled son who must be protected. More than anything, Viola's goal now is to raise her son respectably while forgetting her past - that is until she meets Ian again and her comfortable world is shattered.When Ian receives a note informing him that Viola is out of mourning, he seeks revenge on the woman whose family changed his life five years ago - when her sisters kidnapped, drugged him, and left him chained to a wall in a dungeon for several weeks. But Ian is also falling for Viola and will go to any lengths to make her his mistress, even threatening to expose her to all society and imprison her. And although Viola's startled to learn Ian knows many of her secrets, she has some shocking secrets of her own.