She vowed she'd never be a brood mare for some fashionable fop--and the ton agreed completely. Betta St. John was a bluestocking, a would-be lady novelist, and a rustic, for heaven's sake! She was condemned to be a spinster. Until dashing Alexander Petrie, Earl of Halwick, rode into her life. The notorious rake had a dazzling Frenchwoman in tow, but that didn't discourage his attentions to the bedazzled Betta. Was he as heartless as he was handsome? Had she squandered her love on a bounder... or could her nimble wit and quiet beauty discover his heart and steal his soul as well?