Can an unconventional liaison turn into the love match of the season? After the scandalous duel that made her a widow, Alberta Brown was left destitute-and in possession of a cache of ill-gotten goods. Determined to right the wrongs of her thieving husband, she sailed to England to locate the owner of a gentleman's ring bearing an intriguing coat of arms. But a series of mishaps on- board soon convinced Allie that she was enmeshed in a perilous game. Yet none was more dangerous-or irresistibly tempting-than the dashing stranger waiting on the dock. The marriage-minded Lord Robert Jamison was searching for a woman who aroused that certain something. He never expected to find her in this uncommonly pretty, fiercely independent American he'd been asked to escort back to a splendid country estate. Allie was in grave danger-worse, she vowed never to marry again. Yet Lord Robert's will was just as strong-and he planned to make this maddening creature his wife, even as passion drove them into each other's arms…and a reckless liaison flamed into the season's most indiscreet and irresistible affair of the heart