A widow at twenty-five, beautiful Elise Laffont had been taught by her brutal husband to hate sex and men. She was quite content to manage her small Louisiana farm alone -- until a Natchez Indian uprising forced her to flee. To secure safe passage for herself and her neighbors, Elise agreed to become the mistress of Reynaud Chavalier, son of a French nobleman and a Natchez princess. But what began as sacrifice soon became pleasure, as his sensuous touch awakened her to the ecstasies of love . . .