She's the strong heroine. He's the villain.

They've just got married. Robert Tolley, the Duke of Saffron Walden doesn't much care for the rule book.

He will do whatever it takes, legal or otherwise, to get what he wants. Everything of course, except get caught.

With her family's reputation for creating outrageous scandals, Lady Victoria Kembal is doing her best to maintain her slim chances of securing a respectable marriage. She spends her days quietly reading cookbooks and cutting restaurant reviews out of the newspaper.

When the Duke of Spice and Lady Victoria lock horns over the quality of restaurants in London, the feisty daughter of the Duke of Mowbray is determined that she won't be the one to back down. But Lady Victoria's ill-conceived plans to get even with the Duke of Spice quickly unravel when he catches her stealing from his garden in the dead of night.

Victoria's relief at hearing the villainous duke won't be handing her over to the authorities is however short lived. He has a worse punishment in store for her.

She is to become his duchess. For Victoria and Robert, marriage is only the beginning of their troubles.

The Duke of Spice has long been stealing from the corrupt East India Company and their agents are now hot on his trail. A morally gray hero and his strong willed wife must now figure out how to stay alive while at the same time coming to terms with their growing desire for one another.

. .