On her wedding day, Patricia Cotter, the widowed Lady of Pruett, signed a contract. She would never look at her husband's face. She would never remove the sheets covering the mirrors. She would never ask her husband about his past.

In return for doing these things, she will have a secure place for her unborn child and her worries will be over. She has nothing to lose by agreeing to her husband's terms. Yes, she's heard the rumors about Mr. Stephen Bachman. He was said to have killed his first wife, though there is no proof condemning him of the crime. He is aloof and never leaves his manor. He is practically a prisoner in his own home.

But as she gets to know him, she begins to believe her husband isn't the beast everyone's made him out to be. There just might be a gentleman worth loving beneath his hard exterior.