When a lady snubs love and romance in favor of being ruined, all hell will break loose. Lady Katharine "Kitty" Gibson is the youngest child of the Earl of Armestead. At six and twenty, she wants no part of living a fairytale and desires love even less. She has dreams for her life that do not include romance, but tolerating a man long enough to see herself ruined would be a lovely addition to her existence and might allow her past society's dictates that domestication and a good match is all she should aspire toward. Mr. Reginald Healy made his first fortune with the East India Company and his second importing beautiful silk fabric and selling it to ladies of the beau monde. All he has ever wanted in his life is to be respected as a gentleman instead of the "earl's fool" he's been nicknamed. But when he purchases a rundown manor house in the countryside and meets a winsome blonde who is not in his usual style, his dream shifts to include a wife and possible family. While Reginald isn't exactly the typical hero type, he tries his best to be more to Kitty than a gentleman with benefits. She thinks him endearing and a tad embarrassing, but the longer his clumsy attempt at wooing continues, romance creeps in to mar her lovely no-strings-attached affair. Terrified and confused, she sets out one night to flee into obscurity, but as Reginald gives chase, unexpected peril on the road makes them both face their biggest fears and has the capacity to show them both that falling in love can be whatever they need it to be... ...unless society-and her brother-say otherwise.