ELISE WAS SURE ALL MEN WERE BRUTES. THEN SHE MET REYNAUD CHAVALIER...A widow at twenty-five, beautiful Elise Laffont had been married to a beastof a man who left her with a strong aversion to sex. She was quite contentto manage her small Louisiana farm alone -- until the Natchez uprisingforced her to flee. To secure safe passage for herself and her neighbors outof Natchez territory, Elise had to agree to be the mistress of ReynaudChavalier, the son of a French nobleman and a Natchez princess. Frightenedbeyond measure of this magnificent but menacing man, Elise was unpreparedfor the gentleness, the exquisite sensuousness, the unbelievable patience heshowed until she awakened to the ecstasies of his touch, and began to cravehis lovemaking...