Society shunned the base-born rogue. Matrons whispered behind their fans about his sensual exploits. Young ladies secretly dreamed of his intimate touch. No one expected Drake Wilder to force his way into the closed ranks of the nobility-by coercing a very proper lady to the altar. To save her family from ruin, Lady Alicia Pemberton agrees to wed the scandalous owner of a gambling club. She insists upon a marriage in name only. But Drake has other plans for his lovely, high-born wife. First, he will use Alicia to exact revenge on the father he never knew. Then he will work his scoundrel's charm to seduce her into his bed. But Alicia isn't the meek, submissive wife. And Drake soon finds himself in peril of losing his heart...
Author
From http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/bio... A member of Romance Writers of America since 1981, Barbara Dawson Smith sold her first historical romance two weeks after sending it to a publisher. Her books have won the Golden Heart Award from RWA, and Best Historical Romantic Suspense and Best Regency Historical from Romantic Times. She has been a finalist for the National Readers’ Choice Award, Romance of the Year by Affaire de Coeur magazine, the Golden Quill, and the Booksellers' Best Award. She has also been a five-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, and realized a lifetime dream in 2002 when she won the award for TEMPT ME TWICE. Barbara also writes romance as Olivia Drake. Barbara lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and who knows how many neighbor children running up and down the stairs. When she's not finishing a chapter or teaching a seminar on writing, she enjoys browsing in her collection of over a thousand research books.
