Lady Clara Harkhams wasn't a great beauty, but men clamored for her hand. She practiced the art of flirting with gay abandon, but she'd long ago given her body and soul to Lucien Bryland, the viscount she was promised to at birth. Now, after years abroad, Lucien returned a different man: dark, brooding, his piercing gaze setting her afire. His lips possessed her, his strong arms claimed her even as she refused to marry the stranger he'd become.

Lucien knew he could never trust the coquette. But he planned the ultimate revenge--in marriage. Soon, he was sure Clara would be pregnant and tucked away in the country as he returned to London, his mistress, and the ton. So he'd wagered at White's. But the woman he tried to hate obsessed him. He had set out to enslave her, to make her want him as he wanted her. Yet the opposite seemed to be happening. Clara was an opiate and he was completely addicted. He could compel her to marry him--but he would have to win her love once again....