Once bitten, twice shy…
Harriet Stanhope is intelligent and serious, the kind of girl who reads Plato and likes long walks in the rain. She is unsuited to ballrooms and flirting and finds the season a horrific waste of time. Once upon a time she fell in love, however, she trusted her heart to a man who kissed her and whispered sweet words … and then laughed with a friend about her having done so. 
Heartbroken and humiliated, Harriet vows to use her brain in the future and never trust her stupid heart ever again.
An unrequited passion…
Jasper Cadogan, The Earl of St Clair is hopelessly in love, with a woman who hates him.
Lovable rogue, Jasper, is handsome, charming, easy-going and beloved by the ton, the most eligible man on the marriage mart, but he can’t put a foot right with childhood playmate Harriet Stanhope. Though they were once close, Jasper knows he did something years ago that hardened Harriet’s heart against him, but for the life of him he can’t think what it was.
Jasper knows Harriet believes he’s frivolous twit at best, and in awe of her superior brain, gorgeous Jasper is struggling to prove himself otherwise. Determined to discover what it was that drove Harriet away from him, he’ll use fair means or foul to get to the truth.
A wager that will risk both their hearts…
The Peculiar Ladies dare Harriet to bet something she doesn’t wish to lose and when her big-mouthed friend Kitty tells Jasper, she knows she’s in trouble. 
Too stubborn to back down, Harriet accepts Jasper’s shocking wager and plunges them both into a scandal that will risk everything, including two hearts.