For years, Lady Cassandra Sinclair has harbored a scandalous secret and a painful loss. Unwilling to trust a man again, Cassie throws herself into a confidential project-a private home for pregnant, unwed women. But after she is seen there by the arrogant lord she once fought feelings for, the walls around Cassie's secret life begin to crumble.

Physician and fourth son of a marquess, Lord Grant Thornton is content with his reputation as a debauched widower. No respectable lady wants to marry a rogue, and Grant has no intention of marrying again. But his father's impatience for a male grandchild to carry on the family title spirals into a demand that Grant either remarry and aid in the effort-or be cut off. When Grant discovers Cassie operating the much-whispered-about Hope House in the poverty-stricken stews of Whitechapel, he's as impressed at her daring as he is furious. He also sees a wicked opportunity . . .

Cassie is appalled when Grant threatens to expose her secret unless she agrees to a staged courtship. With any hope, the child his brother is expecting will be a boy, and Grant will be off the hook. But until then, Cassie intends to make him regret his scheming. Acting the part of besotted couple in public, the two bitter adversaries clash in private, until an inconvenient attraction becomes unruly-and unstoppable.