First love may be the sweetest, but the first cut is always the deepest… Miss Caroline Wentworth refuses to attend any Season in London. Her heart belongs to her childhood sweetheart. And even if he stopped loving her, she prefers to stay a spinster than marry another. Then, a suitor appears. Someone she cannot decline. For her father owes him, and she is the debt's payment. But Caroline might have a second chance… Edward Brandon the Duke of Darkwood has just returned to London scarred from the war. He enjoys waking next to different women every day, doing anything to forget the battlefield’s horrors. Oh, and he is sworn to stay unwed forever. After facing Caroline again, Edward is determined to keep her away. As soul-crushing as it is, he knows that he cannot give her what she deserves, even if his heart aches for her. But when circumstances force them to live under the same roof, the atmosphere is electrifying. Caroline must rekindle the old flame before she is forced to marry, while the rakish Duke must guard his heartbreaking secrets. Even if it means denying the arms of the woman he truly desires… He can't have her but she is already his…