Roses at Midnight — Alexa Smart

Gifted painter Amaryllis Meeks believes in women's rights and free love, although she has yet to lose her heart. But she almost loses her life when she is attacked one night on a foggy London street. It is only pure luck that saves her from a dreadful fate --- and a dangerous destiny that unites her with London's most notorious nobleman.

Amaryllis knows she should beware of Victor Sayville, Earl of Blackstock, a man rumored to have murdered a young actress. Yet she cannot resist his darkly hypnotic lure . . . and is soon drawn into his lush, seductive world. But it is the earl's unconventional hobby --- the cultivation of exotic roses --- that holds Amaryllis in thrall. Red as blood, white as snow, they symbolize everything she has ever desired --- and feared. For this sensual stranger who has unleashed her secret passion may also be a madman who has set free a savage force that haunts her dreams and threatens her life and love.