Selfless widow Lauren Applegate Harris is determined to retrieve the deed to her beloved father-in-law’s estate, lost during one of his drunken gambling spells, even if it means offering herself as a courtesan to the Earl of Sutton, who seized the land. No one need know Lauren’s other motive: secretly, she’s always longed to dabble, just a little, in sin!

The handsome earl is frankly amused. Clearly this winsome and delicate lady has no experience at such wicked behavior. Yet drawn by her beauty and thinking to teach her a lesson, he agrees. But after a few weeks of pleasure, it’s the earl who finds he has the most to learn, as an outrageous proposal turns into a delightfully amorous tryst with possibilities no one could have predicted. But can love grow from such shocking—and duplicitous—beginnings?