New Orleans, 1813: As war looms and loyalties blur, survival may depend on trusting the untrustworthy. Classic historical fiction from NYT bestselling author Patricia Rice… Branded a pirate, a murderer, and a womanizer, Nicholas Saint-Just rules his Louisiana plantation with his fierce will and reputation. But with the British threatening and New Orleans bracing for battle, even a man of the shadows must choose a side. Widowed and grieving, Eavin O’Flannery Dupre has nothing left but her word. When she agrees to care for her orphaned niece—Nicholas’s daughter—and manage his household, it is a matter of duty, not desire. She makes it clear: she has no intention of being beholden to or touched by any man again. But war has a way of shifting boundaries. As the city teeters on the edge of anarchy, Eavin and Nicholas are drawn into a web of conflicting loyalties, hard bargains, and dangerous truths. In the crucible of conflict, their uneasy alliance will be tested—by betrayal, by battle, and by a connection neither of them sought. In a time when trust can cost your life, will two damaged souls risk everything for a fragile hope?
