Miss Benedicta Wylde, or Benny as she prefers to be called, did not come to London to find a husband. Of her sister and her twin cousins, she has accepted that she is plainest of the bunch. She is also the oldest. Her chances of finding a husband have dwindled each year since her debut until they are completely nil. To that point, she’s given up playing by the rules. Instead she means to live a life of adventure… which leads her to Covent Garden… alone… at night… and into the worst sort of trouble. Lord Payne Asher, Baron Davenport, is not at Covent Garden to enjoy the many entertainments offered there. He’s got his sights set on a villain—on the man who murdered the girl he once loved. The last thing he expected to do was foil an abduction attempt. But when he hears a woman scream in the darkness, he cannot ignore it. Rushing to her aid, he finds her fighting like a wildcat against the two men who intended to cart her away. He intervenes, saving her and ruining her in the process. Because her scream doesn’t only draw him to her location. Before he can spirit her away to safety, they are discovered by the most vicious gossips of the Ton in what appears to be such a compromising position that any protestations of innocence would surely fall on deaf ears.. The only thing to do, for the sake of his honor, is to marry the girl. But Benedicta Wylde is not merely a girl. At six and twenty, she’s a woman grown with a mind of her own and she challenges him at every step. Maddening. Infuriating. Irresistible. And for the first time in a very long time, Payne finds himself focusing on his future instead of his past.