The only thing that makes Arthur Russell, Duke of Bedford, furious is his mother’s insistence on him finding a wife. He’ll do anything to make her stop. He could even propose to her beautiful lady’s maid—in front of all the ton.
“My darling, you have bewitched me body and soul. I ask for your hand in marriage before the ton”.
Nora Beaumont can’t believe her ears. When the Duke proposes, she thinks he is jesting. But fate has other plans. When Arthur’s mother blesses the match, Nora is at a dead end.
For she can’t let Arthur near her heart, despite him having found his way in. Shunned by her father, and scarred for life by her former lover… she knows well enough how men of the ton behave. They take, they harm, they abandon.
Yet now, it’s not just herself she has to protect. But a secret as well. A secret with big eyes and a button nose that calls her “Mama”. A secret no one would ever accept…
To surrender to temptation will be her damnation…