A cavalier rakehell. A feisty beauty. A powerful love which shakes this pair to their core . . .

High-spirted and impulsive, Miss Allegra Strong thinks more with her heart than with her head. She refused her cousin's offer to pay for her come-out, but the duke's wife wishes to host a house party at Season's end for Allegra and her twin. Both girls hope to make love matches with an invited guest.

Sterling Ayles, Earl of Carroll, has the blackest reputation among the ton. He is a man who seduces women with both words and actions and can't understand why he receives an invitation to the house party given by the Duke and Duchess of Seaton. No one refuses a duke and his duchess, though. Sterling journeys to Kent, expecting to enjoy good food and company—with possibly a bit of light flirting—before he returns to his hedonistic life in London.

Much to Sterling's surprise, he is thunderstruck when meeting Allegra Strong. Despite having no desire to don the shackles of marriage, Sterling finds himself offering marriage to Allegra.