A reluctant heir...
Benedict Prescott never wanted to be heir to a marquessate. Born to a father who rejected his highborn family and turned his back on the peerage, he can't help but feel that embracing his bloodline, and the title inevitably coming his way, is the ultimate betrayal. However, when an uncharacteristic scandal leads to his expulsion from university, he has few places left to turn but the countryside-and the flailing estate his uncle, the Marquess of Rockliffe, tasks him with managing. Little does Benedict know, his turmoil over the future is nothing compared to the upheaval that enters his life when he's caught in a compromising position with a viscount's daughter-and honor demands he marry her.
A lady trapped by circumstance...
If Miss Violet Collingwood learned anything after her father's dissolute antics prompted her exile to the country, it's never to rely on a man, and certainly not to fall in love with one. She's more than content to have found a suitor she esteems and who can offer escape from the taint on her family name. But just as her betrothal looks imminent, her path intersects with Benedict Prescott's, and an innocent encounter becomes misconstrued until she's embroiled in another scandal. With her reputation and her sister's own betrothal in peril, Violet has little choice but to accept a marriage proposal from the aloof stranger with whom she collided-even though he's the starchiest, most straitlaced man she's ever met.
A duty that becomes desire...
Thrust into an unwanted union, Benedict and Violet are bound by duty but divided by uncertainty and secrets. Yet as Violet's strong will clashes with Benedict's cool reserve, the tension between them evolves into something they never imagined: desire. As fragile passion blooms, a ruthless neighbor threatens the estate they share, and ghosts of the past linger around every corner. With their home and future at stake, they must decide if they'll take a risk neither thought themselves capable of: opening their hearts and letting each other in.