Lady Cassandra Whitlock, the sister of the wealthy Duke of Somerhall, knows what is expected of young ladies in the ton such as her. She is to marry a wealthy, preferably titled, man and is to have no expectations of his fidelity. She is to remain subservient to him. However, she's never been good at meeting expectations. She is fully prepared to remain a spinster for the rest of her life until, in London, she encounters the Earl of Hawthorne, Christopher Weston, a secluded man but one who challenges all of her beliefs about society. She is instantly drawn to this elusive Lord Hawthorne, but is the farthest from prepared as one can be for an attachment.

When Franny learns why former popular boy Tyler fell from grace, she gets thrown head-first into his dangerous world but also closer to his timid heart. ***** Eighteen-year-old Tyler Madden used to have everything. He was captain of the football team, popular, high achiever, and was set to have a successful career. But when a secret too hard to handle comes to light, he turns to underground fighting to deal with the pain. Now, he's in too deep. And when Francesca Howard befriends him at school in the hopes of figuring out what went wrong, she unknowingly gets pulled into the criminal world he's now stuck in. As the two find comfort in each other, they find themselves faced with their impending future and trying to get Tyler out alive. Content/Trigger Warning: this story contains scenes pertaining to drug use, substance abuse, and violence. [#1 in teen fiction, romance and action]