A mistress. A mountain of debt. A mysterious
wreck of a building.
Delilah Swanpoole, Countess of Derring, learns the hard way
that her husband, “Dear Dull Derring,” is a lot more
interesting—and perfidious—dead than alive. It’s a devil of
an inheritance, but in the grand ruins of the one building
Derring left her, are the seeds of her liberation. And she
vows never again to place herself at the mercy of a
man.
But battle-hardened Captain Tristan Hardy is nothing if not
merciless. When the charismatic naval hero tracks a
notorious smuggler to a London boarding house known as the
Rogue’s Palace, seducing the beautiful, blue-blooded
proprietress to get his man seems like a small sacrifice.
They both believe love is a myth. But a desire beyond reason
threatens to destroy the armor around their hearts. Now a
shattering decision looms: Will Tristan betray his own code
of honor…or choose a love that might be the truest thing
he’s ever known?