One might expect to encounter flirtation, gossip, and intrigue at a ball in the opulent Berkeley Square mansion of Lord Gillis - but murder is hardly de rigueur. Stranger still, the prime suspect is Lacey's insufferably upright former friend and commanding officer, Colonel Brandon. Though Brandon denies killing the man, he admits the murder weapon is his - and that he had been quarreling with the victim over a woman.

With the man's fate in his hands, Lacey finally has the opportunity to extract some revenge for the wrongs Brandon has done him. But also at stake is the happiness of the woman Lacey desires to protect more than anyone else in the world - Brandon's wife, Louisa...