Old sins cast long shadows when hearts are at stake. It’s been fourteen years since Lavinia de Grande was evicted from her childhood home after her father lost his fortune. On entering her first Season courtesy of a cousin’s charity, Lavinia vows to wreak vengeance on Earl Walton, the villain who orchestrated their ruination. Not even an alluring viscount—whose masterful touch and fiery kisses set her senses ablaze—will distract her from her plan to retrieve the family heirlooms lost at Walton’s hands, by fair means or foul. Peregrine, Viscount Marlow, has been tasked with solving a mystery. A thief known as ‘the Phoenix’ is targeting the ton and stealing seemingly unconnected treasures from different houses. During his investigation, Peregrine is distracted by the daughter of an impoverished viscount—a young woman unlike other debutantes, with a mind of her own and a body ripe for claiming. As Peregrine draws closer to his quarry, he unearths a secret that links the Phoenix to his own father, and Lavinia, who is falling for her would-be captor, soon learns that what began as a game, might cost her liberty—or even her life.