From Goodreads:

This sweeping saga of love and danger among the aristocracy of early 19th-century New York heralds the return of Vincent Virga, the author of the classic gay gothic romance Gaywyck.

From the heights of glittering society to the depths of poverty in the unimaginably horrific immigrant slums, Vadriel Vail paints a vivid portrait of the excesses and arrogance of the privileged upper classes while providing a richly detailed and classic gothic tale of romance, secrets, and windswept coastlines.

His dreams of a life of religious service shattered, young, brilliant and almost ethereally handsome Vadriel Vail retreats to his family's summer home in Newport, R.I. But his sabbatical is interrupted by the arrival of Armand de Guise, the darkly handsome and dangerous scion of a New York financial empire.

Armand, though charming and sophisticated, has a violent and disturbing nature, which serves him well as one of New York's most notorious slumlords. His attentions could destroy Vadriel, who find's himself both drawn to and repelled by Armand, unless an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress separates them.

Classic in form and relentlessly entertaining, Vadriel Vail is a historical romance of the highest order.