An ice-cold duke. A highly intelligent lady. And a scandalous contract whose most important clause is love. Can the greatest emotion of all be calculated, or will the equation lead straight to ruin?London, during the Regency era: Lady Penelope Sterling believes in numbers, logic, and the absolute independence of her academy for young ladies. When her bankrupt brother puts the school's very existence at stake, she is left with only one choice: she must enter into the most dangerous business deal of her life.
Her partner? None other than Arthur Vance, the aloof and powerful Duke of Westbury, who desperately needs a proper, high-society wife to secure his political ambitions. The arrangement is simple enough: for three months, they will play the perfect couple before the eyes of London society. No feelings, no real desire, just pure convenience. But Arthur didn't account for Penelope's sharp tongue and brilliant mind.
Amidst grand balls, secret state treaties, and a stolen diary, the strictly calculated foundation of their marriage of convenience begins to dangerously unravel. When a ruthless blackmailer threatens to ruin Penelope, the Duke must make his choice: will he protect his carefully built fortress of mistrust-or risk everything for the only woman he cannot control?
An ice-cold duke. A highly intelligent lady. And a scandalous contract whose most important clause is love. Can the greatest emotion of all be calculated, or will the equation lead straight to ruin?London, during the Regency era: Lady Penelope Sterling believes in numbers, logic, and the absolute independence of her academy for young ladies. When her bankrupt brother puts the school's very existence at stake, she is left with only one choice: she must enter into the most dangerous business deal of her life.
Her partner? None other than Arthur Vance, the aloof and powerful Duke of Westbury, who desperately needs a proper, high-society wife to secure his political ambitions. The arrangement is simple enough: for three months, they will play the perfect couple before the eyes of London society. No feelings, no real desire, just pure convenience. But Arthur didn't account for Penelope's sharp tongue and brilliant mind.
Amidst grand balls, secret state treaties, and a stolen diary, the strictly calculated foundation of their marriage of convenience begins to dangerously unravel. When a ruthless blackmailer threatens to ruin Penelope, the Duke must make his choice: will he protect his carefully built fortress of mistrust-or risk everything for the only woman he cannot control?