Miss Violet Knowlton knows the dangerous boy she watches in secret from her window is someone a proper young lady should avoid. Yet temptation overcomes her. Kit scoffs at her offer of friendship-until, slowly, her innocent trust opens a door to a world he’s never known . . . a world in which Kit can break off the shackles of his shameful past.Then Kit disappears from Violet’s life. Lost, she dedicates the next decade to becoming a true lady, only to have her world turned upside down one night at a ball in London. There she encounters a handsome and celebrated sword master-and recognizes him as her childhood friend. Soon the flames of their forbidden past reignite into a passion neither of them can refuse.Kit can no more resist his first love now than he could years ago. But she’s been promised to another. Sworn to protect her, he vows that he will also find a way to possess her . . . no matter what stands in his way.

Samuel Charles Aubrey St. Aldwyn, Duke of Gravenhurst, is a radical rogue and champion of unpopular causes. No one would dream that he is also the author of a bestselling series of dark historical novels, a writer accused of corrupting the morals of the public, and a master seducer who counts among his passionate fans wellborn Miss Lily Boscastle. But Lily is no stranger to disrepute.When her engagement to another man ends in a tarnished image and public disgrace, Lily is forced to seek employment outside London-as housekeeper for Gravenhust himself. Her sharp wit and sensuality appeal to his wicked instincts, and she’s a perfect match for every beguiling move he makes. Yet there’s more to him than Lily imagined: a secret known to few living souls, ghosts from the past that haunt both of their futures in ways too dangerous for even the duke to have invented.

As headmistress of the Scarfield Academy for Young Ladies, Miss Charlotte Boscastle is tasked with keeping her charges free from notoriety. But when Charlotte’s diary goes missing, she can’t imagine having her most intimate secrets fall into the wrong hands.Although the confessions in the diary he found spark his interest, the Duke of Wynfield has every intention of returning the journal. But when Gideon’s encounter with Charlotte takes on an unexpectedly passionate nature, his indiscretion causes a scandal that only marriage can cure.