He’s a scandal-touting rake and a magnet for trouble. She’s a wallflower with secrets and skills no one would suspect.

Meredith Jones has never been the object of gossip or attention and certainly not desire. Which is why her mother, in desperation, has sent her to London to stay with the mysterious matchmaker, Mrs. Dove-Lyon. The deal is, if Meredith doesn’t get married off quick, she’ll have to return to rural Wales to live out her days as a spinster.

A rake whose reputation precedes him around the ton, Jules Habsburg, is running from scandal, revenge, and vexed fathers. But what does he care? Life gave him a bad hand. He’s a descendant of royalty; he should be an emperor, rich beyond belief, all-powerful, and master of vast swathes of land and property.

Where is his castle?

Where are his royal jewels?

His titles were stolen!

When Meredith’s and Jules’s lives collide in the most unlikely of ways, a dangerous partnership of whispered strategies and late-night lessons ignites something far more scandalous than even Jules’s wild claims to a throne.

He sees a beautiful, sharp-minded, independent woman and cannot resist finding out more. She discovers an arrogant rake who smiles at her and touches her with such tenderness, her heart melts.

But in Whitehall, appearances rule and reputations can be ruined with the merest hint of gossip. Desire has a price and rumors burn. Will the fire eat them alive? Can Jules win the most important game of his life? Has Meredith tamed the untamable when they are both thrown their last chance at love?

Tropes you’ll enjoy:

• Rogue/Wallflower
• Only One Bed
• Forbidden Romance
• Opposites Attract
• Duels at Dawn
• Loveable Rogue
• Bluestocking Heroine