Lady Irene Wyngate has sworn she'll never marry, keeping suitors at bay with her caustic tongue.

But there is one man she can't scare: Gideon, long-lost heir to the Earl of Radbourne. He was kidnapped as a child and grew up tough on the London streets. And though he's been restored to his family, he is still more at home in gambling dens than stately ballrooms.

Irene isn't attracted to Gideon, or so she says when matchmaker Francesca Haughston asks for her help to civilize him for marriage. After all, he is a true rogue with a dubious past-a handsome rogue, she has to admit. But as she reluctantly begins to yield to love, wicked family secrets come to light. . . with devastating consequences for the reluctant lovers.