An exquisite American heiress, Louise Vandermeer is beautiful, brilliant. . . and bored-which is why she has agreed to a daring adventure: to travel across the ocean to marry an aristocrat abroad. Rumor has it her intended is a hideous cad-a grim prospect that propels her into a passionate, reckless affair with a compelling stranger she never sees in the light of day.

Though scarred by a childhood illness, Charles d''Harcourt has successfully wooed Europe''s most sophisticated beauties. For a lark, he contrived to travel incognito on his own fiancee''s ship-and seduce the young chit in utter darkness. But the rake''s prank backfired. It was he who was smitten-while the hot-tempered Lulu, now his wife, loves only her shipboard lover, unaware it was d''Harcourt all the time! And Charles will never have her heart-unless he can open her eyes to the prince who hides within.