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The London season: when the aristocracy descended upon London for its grand balls, garden parties, and other salacious meetings behind closed doors. Ladies draped in glittering jewels and beautiful ballgowns tried their best to attract the attention of London's most eligible and wealthy bachelors. Those same bachelors did their best to avoid the matchmaking mothers who would like nothing more than to see them firmly caught in the parson's trap. The scandal sheets were filled with exploits of the men and women who dared to skirt propriety.
A heartbroken Lady Catherine Gray, sister to the Duke of Hawksford, has fled London to join her aunt in Brighton. Determined to have her own adventures, Catherine's antics caused quite a stir. When she ends up in the scandal sheets, her brother summons her back to London. Catherine knew she would have to return to London eventually, though the journey fills her with chagrin. As the sister to a wealthy and powerful duke, she would need to marry one day. After the events of the last season, however, she was not as eager as she should be to return to London's elite ton. Catherine had loved her brother's best friend Michael Shelbourne since she was a young girl. Michael, the Duke of Leicester, had quite a reputation as one of London's infamous rakes. She had tried to catch his eye at every turn and thought that her first season would be the time he finally noticed her. Unfortunately, she discovered that Leicester may never return her affections. As she begrudgingly returns to London, completely free of her infatuation with the duke, she is ready to prove her affections for Leicester were the musings of a young girl.
Michael Shelbourne, Duke of Leicester, had known Lady Catherine Gray for most of her life. When she returns to London and refuses to acknowledge him, he is confounded by her behavior. She's more beautiful than he remembered. Now, faced with the possibility of seeing her with another, he realizes he made a terrible mistake.
Trying to win back her affections is harder than he imagined it would be, and Catherine is not the same woman he knew before. When a dangerous secret comes between them, will the connection they have be enough to overcome the perils ahead? Or will he lose her again, this time for good?
