Emmaline Clarke, the daughter of a penniless baron with no influence, had been left behind once again. With her father's passing, everything was taken to pay off the debt and she had been left without a place to live. Her only hope is her sister that she had not seen in eight years, her sister that her father had disowned when she was only 14. Desperate just to have a home, Emmaline was willing to do anything, even beg for her sister to take her in.

Derek Ashford, the 18th Duke of Montrose, was a distinguished lord of the realm and was well known for being a paragon of society. He was as strait-laced and austere as a duke should be and held his duties above all else. And that 'else' included his impending duty of marriage. Derek would need to find a lady who came from good breeding, a sizeable dowry, and the manner suited to a duchess this Season. The last thing he needed was a scandal like the one his parents had created.

The first time Emma walked into a ball, she experienced something she never would have expected, and could not imagine this would be the new world in which she lived.

The first lady to capture Derek's eye brushed him off and his interest was sparked. She seemed nothing like any other lady he had encountered in his years roaming the London Seasons and she sparked something in him he didn't even know he could feel.

Could Emma be his future duchess? Or would she be the one to get away?