When the loathsome Lord Bascomb tries to force her into marriage, Elizabeth Woolcot, against her will, must appeal to her influential guardian. Nicholas Warring, known as the Wicked Early, is a darkly handsome charismatic figure - with the power to save her but a past that could put her reputation dangerously at risk. A ruthless womanizer, he has also been convicted of murder - and barely escaped hanging. Elizabeth can't help her attraction to the man who haunts her dreams - nor he his hunger for her. But she knows it can never be. For Nicholas is a married man. Then a heinous crime shatters their lives - and Nick is the natural suspect. Elizabeth wants to believe in his innocence more than life and love itself - but can she trust a man who has killed before?