Imogen Waterstone has always prided herself on being a thoroughly independent young woman. But now she needed a man: one with an implacable will and nerves of iron. That's why she invited Matthias Marshall, the infamous explorer and Earl of Colchester, to her home in Upper Stickleford.
Her scheme was simple, really: She would let it be known that when she inherited her uncle's collection of antiquities, she would also inherit a map to a fabulous ancient treasure. Certain that her enemy would risk financial ruin in pursuit of the mythical artifact, Imogen expected Colchester to set himself up as the ruthless lord's rival and pretend to seduce her so that he, too, could get his hands on her map.
In all of her pleading, Imogen never anticipated Colchester's reaction to her request or her own electrifying response to him. With his powerful build and the swath of silver in his dark hair, Matthias was more than magnificent. And as he entered her charade, Imogen found herself in the thrall of true passion at last.
But for Colchester it was no act. Indeed, to his surprise, he found himself succumbing to the charms of the most amazingly forceful, opinionated, stubborn woman it had ever been his misfortune to meet. And just as he decides the time is ripe to reveal his own motives for going along with her scheme, there emerges from the labyrinth of London society an unforseen threat -- sinister enough to endanger the one woman a man like Colchester could ever love.
Her scheme was simple, really: She would let it be known that when she inherited her uncle's collection of antiquities, she would also inherit a map to a fabulous ancient treasure. Certain that her enemy would risk financial ruin in pursuit of the mythical artifact, Imogen expected Colchester to set himself up as the ruthless lord's rival and pretend to seduce her so that he, too, could get his hands on her map.
In all of her pleading, Imogen never anticipated Colchester's reaction to her request or her own electrifying response to him. With his powerful build and the swath of silver in his dark hair, Matthias was more than magnificent. And as he entered her charade, Imogen found herself in the thrall of true passion at last.
But for Colchester it was no act. Indeed, to his surprise, he found himself succumbing to the charms of the most amazingly forceful, opinionated, stubborn woman it had ever been his misfortune to meet. And just as he decides the time is ripe to reveal his own motives for going along with her scheme, there emerges from the labyrinth of London society an unforseen threat -- sinister enough to endanger the one woman a man like Colchester could ever love.
