A wealthy young widow falls for a handsome gentleman who is determined to discover the mystery surrounding her husband’s death.
Major George Hawkinville, known to his friends as ‘Hawk’, returns home from the Napoleanic Wars to find his family on the edge of financial ruin. His irresponsible father has lost a small fortune to an unscrupulous man who wants the money or the land. Hawk has three months to save his home by convincing a wealthy heiress to marry him.
Clarissa Graystone Deviril was the widow of Simon ‘Devil’ Despard, one of the most despicable men in London. During her blessedly brief marriage, she had been beaten, mauled and narrowly escaped rape at the hands of the depraved lecher known to the world as Viscount Deviril. No one shed a tear when he was found dead from a stab wound in an alley. The fact that he was killed elsewhere was known to a select few including Clarissa.
Major Hawkinville’s mother was a Despard. Hawk was the nearest living heir to the Deviril fortune, until a hand written will surfaced that gave Clarissa control of the estate. People had their suspicions, but noone could prove the Devil’s Heiress had anything to do with her husband’s death. Then again, noone had reason to try. The Hawk is out to catch a soiled dove.