When a rake beyond redemption . . . A walking scandal surviving on little more than wits, whisky, and wicked skills in the bedchamber, Benedict Chatham, the new Marquess of Rutherford, is at the end of his rope. Deeply in debt and down to his last farthing, he must marry nothing short of an absolute fortune, or risk utter ruin. Must marry for money . . . Enter Miss Charlotte Lancaster, unfashionably tall heiress to just such a fortune and a clumsy, redheaded disaster in her five London seasons. While she dreams of leaving England for a life of trade in America, her father schemes to trade her dowry for a title-and Marchioness of Rutherford will do nicely. Charlotte wants her independence, not a husband, and certainly not a disreputable devil who renders her weak and wobbly with a single scorching glance. But she's a practical sort, and a year with the devil might buy her freedom . . . provided she can resist his seductive charms. That shouldn't prove a problem, for he could not possibly want someone like her, and the feeling is mutual. Really. It is. Love grows in the most unexpected places . . . When her father demands a startling price for his daughter's hand-one year of fidelity and sobriety-Chatham must change his libertine ways . . . at least temporarily. And when he does, Charlotte begins to see him in a new light-not as the scandalous charmer she married, but as the husband, she just might adore. Contains mature themes.