Theo, Duke of Lightmorrow and Bernadette, Dowager Duchess of Tunbridge, grew up together and both experienced the pain of families who didn’t appreciate them. Though they maintained their distance as adults, now that their mutual friends have married, they’ve rekindled a friendship…one that is also highly flirtatious. When one tipsy night Bernadette admits she wishes she could take a lover and experience the desire she sees in her friends, Theo is shocked. Fearing she’ll put herself in danger, at first he tries to put Etta off the idea, but he soon realizes she’s too tenacious. He decides there’s only one way to keep her safe: volunteer to be the man in her bed.

Bernadette’s feelings for Theo are complicated, but so are the ways she views herself. Man after man in her life made her feel unworthy, so it’s hard for her to believe that someone so popular and certain and talented as Theo could actually want her. And if he does, that he could ever desire more than just a few powerfully passionate nights together. But she’s having trouble separating her body from her heart, even if she knows it can only lead to sorrow.

Can a near-tragedy and pleasure like nothing either of them have experienced before lead to forever happiness for these two? Or will one careless night years ago end their future before it can begin?