Mr. Charles Duff was there when his friend married Miss Eris Tumilson. He was also there a couple of days later when his friend was buried. The newly widowed Duchess of Jowett has been found innocent of any crime, but Charles is convinced she poisoned his friend on her wedding night. The constable, however, doesn’t believe him. It’s up to Charles to prove Eris did it, but there’s only one way he’s going to get close enough to her to find out the truth. He’ll need to convince her that he’s fallen in love with her. It’s a dangerous gamble. He’ll need to keep his wits about him at all times. He can’t afford to trust her. Because if he does anything as foolish as fall for her charms, he might very well be the next one to be buried.

Algernon Wright, the Earl of Draconhawthshire, takes great care to avoid bad luck. Over the years, he’s learned to sway good luck in his favor, and because of that, he’s managed to avoid many unlucky incidents. The only thing he can’t change, however, is the curse that hovers over his life. On his twenty-fifth birthday, Algernon is doomed to die. That leaves him only one year to get married so he can pass on his title to an heir. Ideally, the lady he marries will be a spinster who isn’t all that interested in marriage but will be happy to be a mother. Then, when he dies early, neither one of them will miss each other. Instead of the old spinster he hopes to find, however, he comes across Miss Reina Livingstone. She is vibrant and full of life. She gives him the one thing he lost over the hope. Reina knows Algernon believes he’s cursed, but she doesn’t. The poor gentleman has lived under the heaviness of sorrow for so long that he hasn’t really learned to enjoy life. He deserves a love match. And she’s going to make it her mission to marry him, regardless of whether it brings good or bad luck.

When Mr. Byron Tumilson was hired to protect Lady Eleanor from the person who is trying to kill her, the last thing he expected was to play the role of her suitor. But, as it turns out, that's exactly what her father, the Duke of Dormondton, requires him to do. Her father wants her to have a successful first Season, and no one has shown any interest in her. He is convinced that if Byron pretends to be in love with her, then she'll attract real suitors. So Byron is stuck attending boring balls and lavish dinner parties under the guise of being a wealthy gentleman. As if that isn't painful enough, he needs to find a way to make this wallflower of a lady into someone gentlemen will actually desire. At least, that's what he most wants until Lady Eleanor pretties herself up and learns how to flirt. Then he starts to realize he's fallen in love with her, and that's the worst thing a nobody like him could do with a fine noble lady.