Clara Wilson has come all the way to London to clear her name (after her wilfulness has left her quite unweddable across the ocean). But before she even has a chance to practise her curtsey, she stumbles into the arms of Seger Wolfe, Marquess of Rawdon. Clara has never felt love before, but she has no doubt when she meets the Marquess that this is what it feels like. Too bad love is the last thing on her mind - she's here to find a husband, not a rake.

Every good gossip knows that the notoriously wealthy Marquess loved and lost years ago, and few have missed the way his broken heart drove him from society ballrooms into society ladies' bedrooms. But when he meets the misplaced Clara Wilson at one of the town's ever-so-scandalous secret balls, the desire he feels for her is too strong, and it pulls him back into the swirl of aristocratic London. Now he finds himself competing for the heart of the inappropriate beauty, and risking his own heart in the game.