Miss Violet Knowlton knows the dangerous boy she watches in secret from her window is someone a proper young lady should avoid. Yet temptation overcomes her. Kit scoffs at her offer of friendship—until, slowly, her innocent trust opens a door to a world he's never known . . . a world in which Kit can break off the shackles of his shameful past.

Then Kit disappears from Violet's life. Lost, she dedicates the next decade to becoming a true lady, only to have her world turned upside down one night at a ball in London. There she encounters a handsome and celebrated sword master—and recognizes him as her childhood friend. Soon the flames of their forbidden past reignite into a passion neither of them can refuse.

Kit can no more resist his first love now than he could years ago. But she's been promised to another. Sworn to protect her, he vows that he will also find a way to possess her . . . no matter what stands in his way.