'By God, you are a temptress, girl. You have the body of a whore and the face of an angel, ' he muttered thickly, wiping his lips. 'That old devil Orme at the Abbey said you would serve me well, and he was right. But you need to be taught who is master here; unbroken you are far too heady a drug.' From beside his bed he pulled out a thin whip, the ornate handle set with jet. 'How fitting that I should use this next on you...'

When Sarah is invited to help her employer, Dr Casswell, translate an antique journal at his isolated country mansion, she finds herself drawn into the dark and sensual world of medieval slave girl, Beatrice de Fleur.

As past and present meet, Sarah is caught in an intense web of passion and surrender, and stripped and bound for Casswell's pleasure, she soon discovers what it is like to be a student of desire...