Entangled by their pasts, a rakehell lord and an outspoken lady find passion that flares in their present. Will they have a second chance at romance, or will the sins of the past keep them apart forever?

When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and fetches help. Trouble is, she can't banish his muscular form from her dreams as easily. Compelled to capture every detail, she creates a stunning portrait but is forced to sell it when the rent comes due. What could be worse than surrendering the very picture of your desire? Meeting the man himself.

Shopgirl Poppy Fairchurch knows it's pointless fantasizing about the Duke of Autenberry. Still, dreams can't hurt anyone, unlike the carriage Poppy spies bearing down upon the unsuspecting duke. After she pulls him to safety, the duke lapses into a coma, and Poppy is mistaken for his fiancée. But one person isn't fooled: his arrogant and much too handsome half brother, Struan Mackenzie. Soon Poppy isn't sure what she wants more: the fantasy of her duke or the reality of one smoldering Scot who challenges her.

At birth, Mick Trewlove, the illegitimate son of a duke, was handed over to a commoner. Despite his lowly upbringing, Mick has become a successful businessman, but all his wealth hasn’t satisfied his need for revenge against the man who still won’t acknowledge him. What else can Mick do but destroy the duke’s legitimate son - and woo the heir’s betrothed into his own unloving arms.... Orphaned and sheltered, Lady Aslyn Hastings longs for a bit of adventure. With her intended often preoccupied, Aslyn finds herself drawn to a handsome man who seems to understand her so well.

Hugh Philemon Ancaster, seventh Duke of Ripley, will never win prizes for virtue. But even he draws the line at running off with his best friend's bride. All he's trying to do is recapture the slightly inebriated Lady Olympia Hightower and return her to her intended bridegroom. For reasons that elude her, bookish, bespectacled Olympia is supposed to marry a gorgeous rake of a duke. The ton is flabbergasted. Her family's ecstatic. And Olympia? She's climbing out of a window, bent on a getaway.