Charlotte Webster thought she was eloping with the love of her life. She did not expect it to be a ploy to force her into a marriage with a stranger, who wanted a young, innocent bride. Held in a house of ill repute, there is little time to act to try and escape and few options to consider. Lord Halkyn is a peer much in demand, but an expert at avoiding marriage. He has always had fixed ideas on love-it causes too many problems to be worth the trouble. He did considered marriage once, but it based on business rather than love. Unfortunately for him, the lady in question had wanted to marry for love and had refused him. Rather than ridicule her, his opinion of her increased and he began to wonder if there was something in the nonsense that was love after all. When visiting his favourite house of ill repute, run by a Baron, he is accosted by a woman. He is begged for help in escaping from the house. Whether it was the fear in her voice, or whether it was the devil in him, he helped her. Suddenly his life was to become far more complicated. Protecting an innocent, employing the services of Bow Street and racing across country, all situations that he could never have anticipated when he was first sought out by Miss Charlotte Webster. His life was never going to be the same again.