Former courtesan and pretend widow Evangeline Renshaw is happy with her reinvented life as a patroness of the Phoenix Club. She doesn't need or want a husband or a lover...until she meets the devastatingly charming and surprisingly virtuous Lord Gregory Blakemore. He'd like to court her, but he'll have to settle for a short, thrilling affair instead. After the death of his father and the marriage of his older brother, Lord Gregory can finally focus on what he wants: a government appointment. However, the enchanting Evie makes him desire intimacy for the first time, and now he wants her most of all. Their entanglement is supposed to be temporary, but he can't let her go. As Gregory reveals himself to Evie, she wonders if she might finally share the truth of her past. Unfortunately, there are those who seek to ruin her carefully crafted second chance. To protect Gregory's dreams, she must sacrifice the only love she's ever known.