Audacious Lady Lydia Leighton has one dream: to establish The Traveling Finishing School for Young Ladies, and live the life of adventure and freedom. To escape her mother's irksome matchmaking efforts, Lydia resorts to blackmailing her best friend's older brother, Viscount Hasting, into a fake engagement. She anticipated their unexpected alliance would free her to pursue her ambitions all while nimbly navigating London’s social whirl on Hasting’s arm. But their searing attraction, his prodigious charm, and well-timed support comes as a revelation. Lydia knows this is a ruse–she created it, for heaven’s sake! Falling for Hasting would be foolish and the opposite of her goals. Can she gamble with her heart long enough to realize her lifelong goal?

Viscount Hasting is no angel–he’s spent years cultivating the life of a dissolute rogue. So when his responsibilities on the estate change drastically, his little sister’s friend sneaking into his room provides a most alluring and welcome distraction. He anticipates passion based on their lush attraction, not blackmail! Initially vexed, Hasting acts truly inspired and thoroughly engaged in his role as smitten fiancé. The ruse is only a fortnight, yet it quickly blossoms through genuine connection to profound attachment. Hasting is stunned–he knew better than to believe in something as naive as this. Didn’t he?

As their newfound vulnerability threatens them from within, Lydia’s scheme tests their tenuous bond from without. Can they rise above their initial suspicions for the promise of more? Or will their charade lead to a scandal that would jeopardize everything they hold dear?