As tempting as the summer season might make love appear, Emma knows that it is only an illusion. Fantasies of love in Regency America are for girls, not a woman who has tasted the harsh realities of the marriage bed. But passion can be far harder to control than mere love-a lesson Emma is about to learn with Julian as her teacher. Julian, in spite of the refined appearance enforced by society, is so much more than the gentlemen Emma has turned aside before. Determined, relentless and driven to have her any way he can, he isn't listening to her polite denials and isn't interested in playing the summer game of courtship. Instead, Emma finds herself in a far different game where she is the prey and Julian the hunter. Amidst the whispers of the night and hidden within that cloak of darkness, she discovers the driving lusts that tempt the body to listen to passion's song. Temptation becomes the master when the flesh becomes stronger than the will. And the night becomes the haven where hunger is fed at the hands of a lover who will be her master.