In USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long's latest installment in the Palace of Rogues series, a notorious rake meets his match in a lovely girl from the country, changing the course of both of their futures...

A London season is the chance of a lifetime for Catherine Keating. But the ton's glitter and decadence and casual cruelty threaten to crush her hopes of finding a husband before her season even begins...until she accidentally acquires one of the most scandalous men in England as a secret chaperone.

Famously fiery Lord Dominic Kirke can hold the House of Commons-and any woman he chooses- in thrall. But when his house goes up in flames in the dead of night, he finds himself at the Grand Palace on the Thames. And there he discovers his cynical armor is no match for another guest: an innocent country girl with a crackling wit and eyes like a summer sky.

He's maddening, elusive, hopelessly charismatic, wrong in every way-perfectly designed to break her heart. But she doesn't know she holds his battered heart in her hands. And though it will destroy him, Dominic knows loving her means setting Catherine free for the life-and man-she deserves.