"Ang¿̐ưelique Latham has grown up at magnificent Belgrave Castle under the loving tutelage of her father, the Duke of Westerfield, after the death of her aristocratic French mother. But when he dies, her half-brothers brutally turn her out, denying her very existence ... Unable to secure employment without references or connections, Ang¿̐ưelique desperately makes her way to Paris, where she rescues a young woman fleeing an abusive madam, and suddenly sees a possibility: open an elegant house of pleasure that will protect its women and serve only the best clients ... But living on the edge of scandal, can she ever make a life of her own, or regain her rightful place in the world?"