She tried to ruin his good name, and he never forgot it. What could possibly go wrong? Finally free of a cruel and loveless marriage, wealthy widower Lady Prudence Barrington is determined to make her own way without remarrying. What she does not expect upon arriving at her sister's castle in Scotland is crossing paths with a duke whose name she once slandered for his flirtatious ways. Or that her sister intends to make a match of them. When Jacob, the Duke of Argyll, learns coldhearted Lady Barrington will be visiting MacLauchlin Castle, he is eager to confront her and perhaps make amends. Forgive the rumors she once spread about him. Help her find her way free of whom she became when married to her late husband, then move on. Or so he thinks until he discovers an interesting, passionate woman underneath her uppity façade. Friendship eventually turns to scandalous desire, but nothing is as easy as it seems. Not when Prudence refuses marriage but succumbs to love for the first time. A love that is soon threatened when Jacob keeps something from her that could very well end all they find together.