Ten Things I Hate about the Duke

Cassandra Pomfret has no qualms about speaking her mind and has earned a reputation for making men cry with her direct arguments. Normally, this doesn't bother her, but her father has put his foot down and decreed that unless Cassandra finds a husband, her younger sister, Hyacinth, can no longer participate in her first season. Meanwhile, Lucius Wilmot Beckingham, the Duke of Ashmont, libertine and general hell-raiser, has just been jilted at the altar and has nearly killed one of his best friends in a duel. When Ashmont imperils the life of Cassandra and her servants, while also endangering her reputation, he knows he must make it right. Cassandra refuses to play by society's rules, though, and while Ashmont seems to be the only man outside her family unafraid of her, he has only ever been a disappointment. Ashmont realizes it will take all his wiles and major introspection to match wits with Cassandra, including offering to pretend to court her for the sake of her reputation and her sister's chance at marriage, all the while curbing his rakish instincts.