Fayne Carlisle is not yet ready to assume the title of Duke of Solitea, but his father's sudden death means that his lusty bachelor days are numbered. Is the fabled Solitea Curse to blame for this stroke of ill luck? Or is Lady Kilby Fitchwolf the poison? A violet-eyed beauty with a family scandal of her own, she has just arrived among the ton...and soon becomes the object of the Duke's wildest fantasies. But are the rumors true? Was Fayne's father really found dead in Lady Kilby's very bedchambers? And if so, should that preclude the duke from keeping her company? Surely, there's no more pleasurable way to perish. But as the duke comes to know the beautiful siren, it seems she couldn't be less interested in seducing him - and what begins for the Duke as romantic sport escalates into a do-or-die courtship that brings the two lovers dangerously close to falling in love.