Arriving alone and unannounced at her Aunt Lily's Paris home, the innocent young beauty Gardenia is overwhelmed by a whirl of glamourous parties, exotic food and endless champagne.
Her aunt, the imposing Duchesse de Mabillon, is it seems a well-known and popular Society hostess ¬who counts Lords and Comtes among her many friends.
Indeed, already at her wits' end after the death of her mother, Gardenia is so shocked by the immediate and over-insistent attentions of a drunken Nobleman called Comte André de Grenelle that she faints.
And her mind is hardly set at rest when, after coming to her rescue, a haughty and disdainful Lord Hartcourt warns her to leave her aunt's house and stay elsewhere.
Her aunt plies her with fabulous clothes and introduces her to her sophisticated world and slowly Gardenia's eyes are opened to the decadence and deceit behind the glamorous façade.
The innocent and trusting Gardenia has suddenly become embroiled in a world of women of low virtue, international espionage, intrigue and terrible danger.
Luckily for Gardenia, the handsome Lord Vane Hartcourt is a gentleman of honour who would steal nothing — except perhaps her heart.
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