One night, Verity Farrington’s father, an inveterate gambler down on his luck, stakes the only thing he has left to wager on a last hand of cards, and loses.
What he’s lost is far more valuable than mere money – it’s his daughter. He’s lost her to one of the worst rakes in London, a man known as the Black Earl for his dissipate soul.
But Verity, the veteran of a life spent roaming Europe with some dangerous escapes from angry creditors, is made of stern stuff.
Mindful of debtors’ prison threatening her dear papa, on the morning after that fateful card game, she turns up on the doorstep of Jonathan Wintringham, Earl of Dunster.
He’s more than a little taken aback: he was so drunk, he’s forgotten all about winning that final wager.
Things only get worse when his best friend, Walter, turns up and recognizes Verity as his long-lost cousin.
