From the exotic paradise of Saint Domingue to the drawing rooms of New Orleans society, Elizabeth Turner takes readers on a breathtaking journey to the peaks of seduction ... and beyond. It begins when Countess Christiane Bouchard, fleeing the French revolution, agrees to a proxy marriage to Etienne Delacroix, a wealthy French planter on Saint Domingue whom she despises. But when a bloody revolt kills Etienne, Reid Alexander, the plantationis intriguing overseer, sweeps Christiane away to Louisiana where they surrender to the heat of desire.