Scandal — Carole Mortimer

Rachel has never met anyone quite like Grayson Long. From the moment of their introduction Rachel finds Mr. Long to be brusque to the point of rudeness, arrogant as any duke, but so handsome he takes her breath away. Closer acquaintance does not improve upon that initial impression, but nor does her heart cease beating faster whenever Mr. Long is anywhere near.

Grayson is accustomed now to always standing in the background, to never quite belonging, but it wasn't always this way. Once he had an estate of his own, a family and a title, but all that was taken from him. He certainly has nothing to offer any woman let alone one as lovely and innocent as Miss Rachel Banford, resulting in him deciding to keep his distance from her whenever possible.

But Grayson cannot continue to maintain that distance when Rachel becomes the target of a vindictive woman's vengeance.