A scarred lord and a ruined lady… Thanks to his bravery, and subsequent injury on the battlefield, Harold Maddox has been given an earldom and a leave of absence as commander in order to heal. While he doesn’t give a bullocks about the title, he’ll take the leave to settle a personal matter. After the loss of his best friend, he’s promised to care for Chesterfield’s sister, Miss Sophia Chesterfield. And he’s promised himself once he’s healed, he’ll avenge his friend’s death. The problem is that Sophie is far too beautiful for him to remain indifferent and her sharp tongue riles him in all sorts of interesting ways. He needs to return to the war and he can’t afford distractions now. Sophie Chesterfield wouldn’t marry at all except that she can’t very well have a baby without a husband. What she needs is a nice quiet man who causes little interruption in her orderly life. And that man is definitely not Lord Ridgeby. From the moment the man enters her house is a force of destruction on her quiet life. What’s more, he heats her blood and sets fire to everything she thought she wanted. Not that it matters. He’s made it clear he’s leaving and she doesn’t want an overbearing beast like him anyway. Does she?