Lovely Emma Harding had had to leave London under the most distasteful circumstances after her debt-ridden father died. Her return to Town was equally distressing—she was accosted by a reprobate at a roadside tavern. Then the Marquis of Chadwick came to her rescue and the whole world seemed to brighten.

But Chadwick was thirty-eight, a man of the world, a rake and a gambler. How could he court nineteen-year-old Emma, a veritable Bath miss? There was only one thing to do. He must find her a suitable husband before his less noble instincts gained the upper hand!