The worst of times, the most passionate of loves.

In her family's bookshop, Marie-Laure Vernet had adventure, romance, and mystery at her fingertips. And intrigue, in the form of an enigmatic stranger as unsettlingly attractive as the scandalous books he smuggled. But he disappeared, and so did the bookshop's meager fortunes.

Forced to work as a scullery maid, Marie-Laure struggles to keep the china in one piece—and herself away from the aristocrats' wandering hands. Until unexpectedly, the Duc's estranged son comes home, and Marie-Laure once again finds herself face-to-face with the fascinating stranger.

Joseph has braved every conceivable danger during his secret adventures outside France, but he knows no one is in greater peril than a pretty servant in the employ of his lecherous father. And the only way to protect her is to pretend to be her lover.

Behind his bedroom door, their chaste friendship blooms into a connection more erotic than the stories in any forbidden book. But desire, even love, may not be enough to overcome the forces society has arrayed against them...

Warning: Contains a relationship between a couple who love books almost as much as they love each other.