Surely no one had so little in common with Miranda Troy as did Charles Hastings despite their mother's maddening insistence that they should wed. Deliciously beautiful Miranda adored her sheltered life on her family's country estate, where she could enjoy her passion for landscape gardening. The only gardening that interested the handsome Mr. Hastings was sowing wild oats as a womanizer and as the premier gambler of the London sporting set.

Miranda did her best to resist parental pressure to join in wedlock with this unrepentant rake. But there was no defense against his subtle skill in drawing her into a game of dangerous deception. Still, Cupid would need to have a pack of surprises up his sleeve and turn mismatch into a love that could beat all the odds.