When Boston socialite Eve Morneau is bitten by a venomous beetle during a sea voyage, her only hope for survival is the mysterious Charles Galletiere, a New Orleans physician who shuns both society and the treatment regimens practiced by his peers. But it’s not only the poison in her veins that Eve has to fight—her desperate attraction to her handsome healer pushes her past all societal boundaries. Luckily, Charles’ hermetical ways afford them both an opportunity to indulge themselves in very illicit pleasures. Pleasures that, if Charles gets his way, may not be so illicit after all.