Beautiful young Viola Marchmont dearly loved and deeply respected her proud and distinguished father, Sir Anthony, Regency England's ambassador to Italy's romantic city of Florence. But now the depth of Viola's feelings was cruelly tested. A man who held her father in a mysterious grip demanded Viola in marriage as his price for releasing Sir Anthony from his bondage—and it was in Viola's hands that her father's fate rested. Giorgio Michieli was the scarred yet handsome stranger, and his mocking courtesy gave Viola no hint of the life that might await his bride at his ancient family estate. Marriage bells only filled her heart with anxiety as Viola moved over the threshold of the unknown—and plunged into a labyrinth of passion.