Grey St. Clair, recently created the Marquess of Granbury, has long nurtured a grudge against the aristocracy. Of common origins, he has spent years clawing his way into their exalted ranks, collecting their sins, secrets, and debts to use for his own purposes—all in the service of bringing about the downfall of the earl who destroyed his family nearly two decades ago. At long last, he is perfectly positioned to take from the Earl of Andover everything of value…beginning with the earl’s daughter.

Lady Serena Tyndall has never been less than the perfect lady, of sterling character and reputation...until the day the marquess that polite society calls a demon arrives at her home and demands her for his mistress, leveraging her father’s debts to secure her acquiescence. Worse still, her father—hardly the model of fatherly devotion—agrees to sacrifice her to save himself.

But the marquess has no interest in making her his mistress in truth, so together they strike a bargain: Grey will use Serena’s perceived disgrace as a weapon against her father, and in return for her compliance, he will leave her a wealthy woman when their association ends. While Serena contends with her changed place in society, she learns to appreciate her newfound freedom from the strictures of societal conventions. With no reputation to protect, she is free to pursue her own interests, free to skirt the bounds of acceptable behavior…perhaps free to fall in love with an unsuitable marquess, who—despite the circumstances of their meeting—has given her everything she never knew she wanted.