With a gift for creating lush, evocative settings that instantly transport the reader to intoxicating places, Candice Proctor now turns her remarkable talents to the dazzling splendor of old New Orleans, where the air is fragrant with mock orange and sweet olive–and danger wafts on the gentle southern breeze. . . .

Widow Emmanuelle de Beauvais devotes herself tirelessly to the sick and injured of a grand city now occupied by the enemy. Then a night of unspeakable terror puts Emmanuelle at the center of a murder investigation and under the watchful eye of Yankee provost marshal Zachary Cooper. Although she despises the uniform and the war it represents, she finds the man who wears it impossible to resist.

Zach Cooper has never been bewitched by a woman. Even as Emmanuelle veils every truth with layers of lies, he finds himself undeniably drawn to her. Torn between passion and duty, Zach must uncover the dark secrets surrounding a series of murders that threaten to ensnare Emmanuelle in their menacing web. . . .