In all his four hundred years, Rayven never met a woman like Rhianna McLeod. She is a vision of light, of warmth, of everything he is not--nor can ever be. Doomed to live forever in darkness and solitude, he knows all too well the risk in getting close to her, yet he hungers for her with a fierce passion he swears he will never allow himself to feel. Rhianna's father sold her to Rayven to put food on the table so she had no choice but to go with the dark stranger. To her surprise, he gives her everything she wants--the finest clothes, education, and the run of the castle--everything, that is, except his touch. For although she senses danger beneath the soft-spoken manner, although even Rayven himself warns her to stay away, she is drawn to this creature of the night, and loves him as she will no other.