Widowed by the Battle of Waterloo, the ladies of Lyttlefield Park are
returning to London society--with their futures in their own hands . .
.
The widowed Lady Stephen Tarkington, Fanny to her friends, has finished
mourning her cad of a husband and is ready to enjoy her freedom. The
kind of freedom neither a gently bred miss nor a close-watched wife is
permitted: dressing up as Aphrodite for a masquerade, drawing gentlemen
away from the party, and hinting at late-night assignations with her
dance partners. All is going pleasurably according to plan--until the
Roman god Fanny kisses during a masquerade turns out to be Matthew, Lord
Lathbury, whose proposal she refused years ago . . .
Lathbury is charming, passionate, inventive, everything Fanny wants in a
lover--but unfortunately, he's on the hunt for a wife. He's more than
willing to use all his wicked skills to persuade her back to the altar,
but he can't wait forever. And now Fanny's position is more precarious
than she once thought. If the tongues of the ton set to wagging, it's
possible no offer in the world will save her from ruin. But does she
want to be saved? . . .