<i><br></i>Here begins an extraordinary alliance—and a brutal and tender, shocking, and electrifying adventure to end all adventures.<br><br>It starts with a simple note. <i>Roger Bascombe regretfully wishes to inform Celeste Temple that their engagement is forthwith terminated.</i> Determined to find out why, Miss Temple takes the first step in a journey that will propel her into a dizzyingly seductive, utterly shocking world beyond her imagining—and set her on a collision course with a killer and a spy—in a bodice-ripping, action-packed roller-coaster ride of suspense, betrayal, and richly fevered dreams. <br><b><i><br><br></i></b>