Every woman needs a devil by her side.

Rachel Davis would rather risk death than remain a prisoner of the ruthless man intent on gaining her inheritance. Trapped on a private train with the villain, she makes a desperate bid for escape and runs into the arms of an unlikely savior. Aristocratic, arrogant, and deeply cynical about love, Lucas Grainger is her last choice for a husband-even a husband of convenience. But desperate times call for desperate measures: taking Lucas to bed and submitting to his tender, hungry desires may be her only hope.

Lucas Grainger has sworn never to take a wife, but he's not about to let anyone else marry Rachel. He has his own reasons for marrying the gentle, quick-witted widow, reasons she need not know. But holding Rachel night after night awakens deeper hungers than he has ever known, and a calculated marriage soon yields to a blissful, blinding-and dangerous-passion. For if Rachel knew who Lucas really was-of the dark secrets that haunt him-she'd never choose him as her protector.

Theirs is a union both erotic and enduring, and any man who tries to part Lucas from the woman he loves will have the devil to pay.