Emily Wyndham heartily hoped never to follow in her mother's straying footsteps, for Emily's mother had followed a path of love that made her the scandal of society—and her death left Emily not only penniless but branded with her mother's shame.

Emily changed her name to Margaret Nelson and became a lady's maid. But one legacy of her mother she could not escape—the ravishing beauty that drew swarms of aristocratic suitors to her like bees to honey.

One such gentleman was the devastatingly handsome, immensely powerful Duke of Wrotherham, whose imperious love Emily could not deny, but whose demand to wed her could bring only disaster to them both. Emily was far too sensible to allow that to happen...if she could just convince her foolish heart.