Once her girlish dreams were shattered, only a reclusive life could save her from society’s clucking tongues–until a dashing charlatan gave her hope.

In her dreams, Lady Elyssa Prescott could glide like the other young women across a glittering ballroom. In her slumber she could float daintily alongside a beguiled young man to a romantic tryst. But in the cold light of day, she knew that her twisted leg would never allow such girlish pleasures. It was this disfigurement that kept Lady Elyssa away from the manor house and on the back of her prized Arabian, racing the wind across the hills. There, with her hair flowing in tangled abandon, she could give her stallion a free reign. Only there could she escape the clucking tongues of the critical ton. Only there could she experience sweet moments of grace.

It was on just such an afternoon that Brentan Montgomery, Earl of Charfield, caught his first glimpse of the beauty he had been hired to woo. The enchanting lady he had agreed to betray.