Though born into privilege as the youngest child of the Earl of Aldborough, much of Simon Stratford's life has been spent as an outcast. He never experienced the same desire to feign another personality or affect mannerisms for the sake of acceptance; always more concerned with his intellectual pursuits than the opinions of others.

He exists in a space of orderly numbers where equations make infinitely more sense to him than the veiled barbs and cutting words of his peers. His work is his life and his haven in a world where he is, at best, misunderstood.

Resigned to a life of solitude as a social pariah, he never counted on meeting a woman who makes him rethink all his priorities and wonder if there might be more to life than books or journals. Odette Leroy, the illegitimate daughter of a renowned French actress, suffers from a similar sensation of imposter syndrome.

She is too introverted and sheltered to fit in well at the theater, and her parentage too dubious to be easily accepted in polite society. A chance encounter with the curious Mister Stratford has irrevocably altered her and given her hope for the future.

There is something endearing and charming about the quiet, intensely intelligent man who asks her to dance and calls upon her as if she were the most proper and respected of ladies. Unfortunately for them, Odette's mother is more calculating than most.

. .

One orchestrated compromising situation and they find themselves rushed into a marriage of propriety, effectively elevating Odette's status and setting Simon's orderly, regulated world on its ear. While Odette struggles to find her place in the world, Simon must understand he can be more to his wife than a burden, dragging her down before she has a chance to fly.

Aching desire and steamy passion abound in this third book in "The Stratford Family" series; part of an interwoven, multilayered set of books with overlapping characters and plots. Fall in love with Kelsey Swanson's world of Regency Romance.

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