I swore I'd never yield.
Not to the predatory suitor circling my dowry like a vulture, nor to the dowry deadline choking my every breath. Independence was my armor, forged from years of watching lesser women fade into loveless cages. But then he appeared, this debauched duke with eyes like sin itself, promising ecstasy that would shatter my untouched world.

One stolen moment in the moonlit garden, dew slick underfoot and his breath hot against my neck, and restraint unraveled. His hands, velvet over steel, mapped paths no virgin should know. I pushed him away, defiant, even as my body arched toward ruin. He laughed, low and mocking, calling me his innocent fever dream. Every glance at the ballroom's candlelit crush now burns with the memory of his lips branding my skin.

In the locked study's shadows, flickering flames dancing on rain-lashed windows, anger exploded into something feral. He pinned me there, whispering how my purity would redeem his jaded nights, even as his touch defiled every vow I'd clung to. I hated him for it. Craved him more. This man, haunted by his own appetites, offers salvation wrapped in scandal, but one slip and my fortune, my freedom, my heart all fall to that waiting suitor.

Our hunger clashes like thunder, innocence devouring vice in fevered, forbidden nights. Yet the deadline looms, merciless. How long before this scorching surrender consumes us both, leaving nothing but ashes and regret?

A full-length defloration Regency virgin corruption erotic romance featuring a defiant heiress and a debauched rake.