When a forced engagement binds them together, a tell-all book might tear them apart… William Gardener, the 12th Earl of Wolcott, comes from a long line of men who’ve had the misfortune of dying early.
So he’s done all he can to distract himself, including putting off marriage. There are many other things he’s interested in instead: Stargazing. Botany. Bedding women. Etymology. Beekeeping.
Teasing women. Gambling… However, none of that negates the need to do right by his title.
Miss Charlotte Primrose, daughter of a viscount, never had much luck on the Marriage Mart during her handful of Seasons due to her spectacles and curves, so she migrated toward books.
Most days she spends at a lending library, book shops, attics of various relatives digging up handwritten journals. Books never disappoint, and they are safer than men.
Regardless that she wants love, she refuses to marry a bounder merely to say she has a man like her sister did.
When a scandalous book of erotic confessions comes to light, a series of incidents lead both her and the earl into a compromising position that ends in a forced engagement neither wants.
Charlotte busies herself with cataloguing the earl’s library while studying the book.
As for William, he soon finds himself enchanted by the woman ten years his junior and wishes to initiate her into pleasure.
As the midsummer nights go by in carnal bliss, can two unlucky people decide to move forward together in life before they risk tossing away everything they secretly desire?
…unless they stop hiding from what they truly want regardless of what society demands.
