Catherine Denton spends five years in lonely exile because of her friendship with Wild Ryde, a notorious rake old enough to be her father. When her real father, the Earl of Trenwich, dies, she fears her life will become even more bleak, but he leaves her a fortune. As a wealthy heiress, she can rejoin polite society and have her pick of husbands. But the one man she wants is Wild Ryde's very proper son. Andrew St. John, sixth Marquess of Ryde, spends five years struggling to save his family from the debt he inherited from his rakish father. When he makes a deathbed promise to find Lady Catherine a husband who is not marrying her for her money, he refuses to risk his hard-won honor to woo her himself. But how can he surrender her to another man when she stirs his own passionate blood? As the attraction between Catherine and Ryde grows too strong to resist, others become determined to drive them apart. Trying to forge a bond of friendship, despite their fiery clashes, Catherine and Ryde discover clues to a secret that binds their pasts together. But it's their future that's at risk. If they can't discover the truth about a betrayal long ago, they will fail to claim the love that is their true legacy. Winner of The Regency Plume "Top o' the Trees" contest. Finalist in RWA's Golden Heart Contest.