Performance of a Lifetime Jilted by her fiancé, Lady Larkspur finds herself in a very vulnerable position. As the only unattached daughter of a peer, she is in danger of becoming an old maid at twenty-four. Until her father arranges a marriage behind her back to a man thrice her age. Desperate to avoid a loveless marriage, the headstrong Lady Larkspur pretends she is ill...and unsuitable to become a wife. But her swoons and fevers don't fool Benedict Queensman, the physician who is charged with her care. He immediately sees Lark's "decline" as artifice, yet whisks her off to Brighton in hopes that the sea air can revive her. But the last thing Ben wants is to cure the woman who has won his heart...just to lose her to another....