When the arrogant stranger Bess is forced to marry unexpectedly becomes a duke, she'll find herself at odds with her growing feelings as he hunts for a killer. ***** Sharp-tongued Elizabeth 'Bess' Jones is perfectly content living on her lonesome in a tiny village south of Derbyshire. She works as a nurse, owns a small home, and finds the label of 'spinster' an agreeable trade for her independence. But when her entire life is uprooted in an instant, she only has one person to blame: her new husband, Emmett Wilde, who was caught in a compromising situation with her. And now, despite his promise to fake a death certificate after their wedding--to free her of any duty to him or their marriage bed--he sends for her in the dead of night with startling news: his father has been murdered, and he is now the Duke of Ascot with a wife he can no longer deny... [[Word Count: 60,000-70,000 words]] [[Cover designed by Ren Tachibana]]

Juliet Rosewood has never been one of the attractive young ladies whom gentlemen favour just liker her sister, Titania. Resigned to a life of being left of the shelf, she is ardently surprised when she catches the fancy of a handsome earl, Edmund Aughust at a masquerade ball. However, as she prepares to accept his hand for marriage after a brief courtship, someone unexpectedly attempts to sabotage her. Will the duo ever achieve happiness?

They married for the wrong reasons. He married her for the money and status, while she married him to start over again. It doesn’t really matter why exactly they married, but what happens when he starts to feel something towards his own wife. And what happens when the trouble she left behind catches up with her?