A guarded mistress from the streets of Paris. An English noble with a broken heart.

Paris, 1776: Lord Avers is not going to fall in love. Not again. Still recovering from his only foray into that treacherous domain, he happily accepts a distraction-helping his friend Wakeford ferret out a leak in the British envoy's Parisian offices. Posing as the long-absent Duke of Tremaine, he attempts to befriend the Comte de Vergelles and infiltrate his spy ring to determine how they're stealing secrets.

Emilie Cadeaux has risen from the gutters of Paris to become a well-known actress and a contender for the position of mistress to the powerful Comte de Vergelles. Playing a careful game with the deck stacked against her, she knows the freedom she has worked all her life for is teetering on the precipice of being lost forever.

The arrival of the obnoxious and judgemental Duke of Tremaine into the Comte's circle adds a new complication to Emilie's world. His inquisitive questions and coincidental meetings go from irritating to intriguing, and soon she suspects the Duke is not all he seems.

From the shimmering salons of 18th century Paris to the dangers of political London, the fourth instalment in the Ladies of Worth series sees Avers and Emilie swept up into a world of spy rings, cyphers and smuggling-as they try to resist a growing attraction to each other.

Will Avers choose to risk his heart again before it's too late? And will Emilie choose to do what's right even if it threatens her freedom?