A desperate young woman ... Lady Louisa Barrick will do anything to save her estate and the village that depends on it, but when she tries to use a rakish privateer in her scheme, things don't turn out as planned.
A duke masquerading as a privateer ... Jonathan Derek Wentworth has a scheme of his own: to track down the ton-based smuggling gang responsible for his father's death. When he's caught in a compromising situation with Lady Louisa, he decides it's better to marry her than to risk being ostracized by the London society whose invitations are vital to his plan. But Louisa refuses to marry him, unless he meets her terms, one of which is a month-long reprieve from consummation.
Intent on seduction, Derek doesn't count on his unexpected jealousy wreaking havoc with his emotions, his marriage, and his masquerade. Lucy, still grieving the death of her father, wants desperately to avoid another heartbreak, but fears she may have schemed herself into a marriage with the one man destined to break her heart: a man who isn't what he seems, who obviously can't be trusted, and who will surely leave her the first chance he gets.
This is a full-length novel of 106,000 words... 290 pp in a 6x9 trade paperback (which equals approximately 420 pp in mass market size).
