They called it their "double act." And in Europe's most exclusive gaming halls, Judith Davenport and her brother, Sebastian, used the technique to dupe unwary noblemen out of their pocket money. First, Judith lured them to the card tables with her ravishing smile. Then, employing her fan in an elaborate code, she made sure that Sebastian's luck never ran out. It was a dangerous game played in preparation for one desperate purpose: to avenge their father's tragic death.

But the Davenports never bargained for the penetrating scrutiny of a certain strikingly handsome lord who had come to see for himself the woman who had all of Brussels at her feet, including his besotted nephew. Marcus Devlin, the honorable marquis of Carrington, wasn't fooled for an instant by Judith's air of innocence—or by her flirtatious way with a fan. Instead he was amused, infuriated, and intrigued enough to draw the bewitching schemer into a daring gamble of his own . . . where the stakes were nothing less than the lady's heart.