"Welcome, ladies, the next few weeks will decide your future. But before all that, let me introduce you to my son Nicholas. To one of you, he'll be a future husband. To the rest, a nightmare who will haunt your dreams for whatever time you have left."

Born into privilege, Victoria Hamilton has endured a life of opulent captivity. Disallowed to associate with any men outside her kin, she ventures beyond her gilded cage vicariously, through the art books she adores and the adventures of her dear friend Tamara.

Nevertheless, this staid existence has left her naïve and wildly unprepared when Victoria is finally allowed to debut into society - a debut unlike any other, with no place for the weak.

The arrogantly debauched Nicholas Cavendish, Earl of Lullington, knows he must marry on his 30th birthday to inherit his controlling father’s dukedom. The five women selected for him will undergo depraved trials no genteel woman should ever be made to suffer.

But for Nicholas, what begins as a means to an end quickly becomes a matter of the heart, thanks to one woman - the brave, beautiful, and achingly innocent Victoria.

Sentiment and secrecy make for poor bedfellows, with the Cavendish family legacy being the biggest, most dangerous secret of all. And despite all she’s endured to win her place by his side, Victoria may find Nicholas is truly the one in need of saving.