Vanessa’s inheritance, upon the death of her parents, was a mountain of debt and an arranged marriage. Her greedy uncle had eagerly sold her off to be an ageing Count’s latest bride. To break the engagement, she needed a scandal. A truly dreadful, utterly ruinous scandal.

***

“Vanessa.”

“….”

“Is life so tedious?” he drawled, incredulous. “That you’d waste it entangled with the likes of me?”