Blackmail is such an ugly word, Miss Lister.

It is essential that I marry you. So let us call it a bargain.

When an ancient law requires all unmarried ladies to wed or surrender half their wealth, the village of Fortune’s Folly becomes a heaven for fortune hunters – and Miss Alice Lister is a prize to be won! Maid-turned-heiress Alice has fought hard for a modicum of respectability.

Now the insufferably attractive Lord Miles Vickery is certain he can gain her fortune by blackmailing her into marriage. Miles finds his newfound frankness invaluable in entangling Alice in situations deliciously unbecoming of a lady. Of course, he doesn’t yet know that he’s falling hopelessly in love with this formidable innocent…