Lady Aimee Daventry has been haunted for years by her mother's murder. Armed with a resolve to discover the truth, she sets out to unearth her lost memories of that long ago evening, only to find that someone out there doesn't want her getting too close. And when her search puts her very life at risk, in steps the scarred and enigmatic Viscount Stonehurst. Wounded on the battlefields of war, Stonehurst has long kept everyone around him at a distance, but he cannot help but feel compelled to offer his protection to the young woman who once befriended him in spite of his brusqueness and disfigurement. Surely, he can ignore whatever inconvenient feelings of attraction that she seems capable of arousing in him in order to keep her safe?Aimee, however, has other ideas. While seeking refuge behind the walls of his cliffside estate, she sets out to heal his wounds, even as she tempts him to give in to the desire that grows stronger between them every day. She is determined that she will somehow make this stubbornly infuriating man see that it is not only his protection she needs, but his fierce and passionate love as well.