My Dear Miss Wilson,

I have no wish to spoil your chances of meeting the decent and respectable man you desire. Yet I find I cannot idly sit back and accept that I will never see you again, or - forgive me for my candor - kiss you again. If I were like other gentlemen, I would say good-bye to you now and wish you the best. But I have not behaved as a gentleman for many years....Do you understand my meaning?

So begins a very wicked correspondence between the scandal-ridden Marquess of Rawdon and Clara Wilson, an heiress with more than a few of her own secrets to hide. Clara has come all the way to London to find respectability, but she has always craved excitement, and adventure has always sought her out.

This time, excitement is a man unlike any she has ever met before, one who is stunning, brilliant, and definitely not what her mother had in mind. Clara's cautious younger sister Adele warns her to be wary and remember her past follies, but her spirited older sister Sophia urges her to risk it all for love. Clara knows the answer lies somewhere in between, but with her heart and her future on the line, the stakes will never be higher.…