When a crime was committed in tumultuous sixteenth-century Venice, Sandro Cavalli, Lord of the Night, could be counted upon to bring the malefactors to justice. Strong and rough-hewn as a noble oak, his inborn code of morality was as strong as his mighty shoulders. Nothing and no one could sway him from his duty. No one until Laura Bandello. She was a woman of lustrous beauty and disarming charm. Yet why did Laura know so much about the problems plaguing Venice? Could someone so fair, so innocent, be involved in a shocking plot? The only thing Sandro knew for certain was that he wanted this woman, more than anyting he had ever wanted in his life - even if it meant sacrificing everything he held dear.