When Lady Arabella March throws herself into a lake at a scandalous garden fête to rescue a drowning hound, she saves the dog and ruins her reputation before half the ton.
Lucien Harrow, the scarred Earl of Blackthorn, has shunned society since tragedy turned him into a whispered legend, yet the public spectacle leaves him one practical remedy: a swift marriage of convenience.
Arabella agrees only on her terms—separate rooms, honest boundaries, and no romance.
Inside Blackthorn Manor, his cold restraint conceals a fiercely protective nature, and her chaos stirs a desire he thought long dead.
Every stolen glance and heated quarrel draws them toward a truth neither planned, because loving the Beast of Blackthorn was never part of the bargain.
