When an engagement of convenience turns into something more, what path will they choose?
Oliver Stuart Colborne, the Duke of Scarborough and a man of mixed heritage, needs a false engagement post haste. A parcel of unentailed land, held in his maternal grandmother’s name and potentially harboring Roman ruins, can be his if he marries within two years of taking the title… and he only has a month left. He wants that treasure if only to follow in his revered father’s footsteps.
The Honorable Marjorie Grace Fitzgerald, daughter of the deceased Viscount Highmore, has just been left at the marriage altar by her fiancé for scandalous reasons. Her reputations is in tatters, and the family name is running to rack and ruin from her younger brother’s careless vices. After stumbling upon an advertisement in the paper by a duke looking for a duchess, she answers it hoping for rescue from the mess. If she can’t have love, she wants respectability.
As the weeks pass, Oliver and Marjorie enter into an unlikely friendship while deceiving the ton—and his solicitor. To all appearances, they are a couple with every intention of marrying, with no one the wiser to the farce, but when forced proximity sparks surprising desire and genuine emotions come into play, they’ll both need to be honest in what they truly want from life and each other. As the deadline looms, they’ll either lose everything they’ve worked toward or grasp something infinitely more valuable.