Lydia Alcott left London beneath a cloud of shame and ignominy five years ago, when her affair with Marcus Beaumont, Baron Newhaven, came to a disastrous end. Now she has built a successful career as an actress, but her return to London places her once more within Marcus' notice—and the reach of his wrath.
Marcus ordered Lydia away from London when the revelation of her infidelity left him devastated and heartbroken, warning her that to return would be to invite her own destruction. Now, seeing her upon the stage, the desire for revenge consumes him—he will hold her heart in the palm of his hand and crush it as she once did his own.
But Lydia has resentments of her own to satisfy. Unjustly accused of infidelity, she now intends to bring Marcus to his knees in truth. Thus begins a dangerous game of retribution and seduction neither intends to lose. But when old passions surface once more, each must make the choice whether to surrender their antipathy. She will never again be his mistress, and he will not make her his wife...unless the truth, long buried, can set them free from the past.