With her unfashionable red hair and generous curves, Lady Cecilia Edwards enters the marriage mart with modest hopes—a respectable gentleman, or perhaps a minor baron. But a moonlit stroll ends in ruin. To salvage her reputation, she must wed the last man she ever imagined: Andrew Ashwick, a wealthy, stunningly handsome viscount, and her older sister’s suitor.

Cecilia fears she’s destined to be forever second best in her new husband’s eyes. Yet in the quiet of Andrew’s country estate, she discovers a man both commanding and unexpectedly passionate. Laughter, tenderness, and stolen kisses begin to stir something deeper—something perilously close to love.

Tragedy and a sudden inheritance send them into the heart of London society. Thrust into the dukedom, Andrew faces the burdens of power while Cici becomes the target of alarming attacks. Is it her envious sister, cheated out of title and fortune, or Andrew’s former mistress, unwilling to let him go? As gossip and betrayal threaten to tear them apart, Cici and Andrew must unmask the hand behind the danger—before jealousy, doubt, and duplicity destroy them both.

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