Tripper

Miss Sophie Payton might be engaged, but she's not in love. The only man who ever captured her heart was Phillip Grayson—a soldier who was slain a year ago. But when her stepmother decrees that Sophie will marry Phillip's cousin, the new Duke of Harlowe, she's in no position to refuse. The ton thinks Phillip Grayson died a hero on the battlefields of Europe, but he's very much alive, and he has returned to London. He doesn't understand how Sophie could have betrayed him; she can't forgive him for letting her believe he was dead. And yet neither can deny the attraction between them.

Hazel Stillman is a woman of rare independence and limited opportunities. Born with a clubbed foot, she was sent away as a child, and, knowing her disability means a marriage is unlikely, she devoted herself to scholarship and education. Now working as a teacher in an elite private girls’ school, she is content with the way her story has unfolded. When her uncle Elliott Mayfield presents her with the prospect of a substantial inheritance if she marries, Hazel is offended.