A Regency era second-chance romance between an heiress with a secret and a man with the power to ruin her—or make her fall in love with him.
Alicia Tiernay has spent enough time around disenchanted society wives to know what marriage really means for women: a lonely life of tending children while the men carry on with their mistresses. Spinsterhood seems a far better fate to the unconventional Miss Tiernay. But before she chooses a solitary life, Alicia surrenders to a night of passion with a dashing stranger.
Now an heiress who may do as she pleases, Alicia enters London society only to find herself in the arms of masked man at a Masquerade Ball, whom she realizes is none other than her mystery lover.
It’s one thing to have a member of the town know her shameless secret. It’s quite another not to know his true identity. Is it Robert St. Clair, the rogue she cannot seem to resist? Or Lord Fane, a wealthy dandy whose flirtations with Alicia appear to be nothing more than an amusing dalliance? Or is it some other man with intentions far worse, like destroying her reputation once and for all?
Suddenly Alicia’s youthful transgression feels all too dangerous and just as perilous as her growing feelings for a most unsuitable man.