Men are the bane of Violet Honeywell’s existence.

Always telling her what she can and cannot do. Always underestimating her or trying to manage her. From her grasping cousin to her absent brother, they are driving her mad. None more so than Maxwell Able, Duke of Alstead. Their neighbor and her brother’s best friend, he’s always meddling in her affairs without a by your leave. But when her uncle arrives, claiming her long absent brother is dead and that ownership of the estate now falls to him—a fate for Violet that would be worse than death—she finds herself dependent on Maxwell’s aid.

Max never anticipated marrying again—certainly not to his shrewish neighbor.

He certainly never anticipated marriage to a termagant like Violet. But he can’t stand idly by while her cousin claims the property she has managed for years, all while trying to marry her off to some aging roué. Out of desperation and lack of other options, he does the only honorable thing he can and proposes. Much to his surprise, Violet accepts.

But their planned marriage of convenience becomes unbearably complicated. Because lurking under their outward acrimony is a very real spark of attraction—one that grows every passing day with their new proximity to one another. Unable to avoid one another or hide from the truth, they find themselves no longer locked in battle with one another, but desperately fighting against a passion that threatens to consume both… and a love that neither dreamed possible.