England’s prisons can make a man bitter. Betrayal can make him merciless.

Falsely accused of murder and left to rot in England’s infamous prison system, Ryder Braddock, Viscount Blackwood, is finally proven innocent. He returns to his estate a changed, embittered man with a craving for opium and an unwanted wife. Determined to see this complete stranger pay for her trickery—no matter how beautiful she is—he threatens her with arrest… after he enjoys his conjugal rights.

Jessie’s husband has come home. Brutalized by her stepfather into marrying the dangerous convict and opium-eater, she soon discovers he is far from the criminal she’d imagined as she helps him through opium withdrawal. And she quickly discovers the only thing truly in danger is her heart.

With Jessie’s help, Ryder frees himself from the drug, only to find it replaced with a new compulsion—an insatiable need for his wife.