Lady Arabella Ponsford has it all: wealth, beauty, a title—and the vilest temper in England. She takes pleasure from punishing anyone who offends her—including the arrogant gardener whose impertinent gaze sets her pulse racing. When he threatens to penetrate her façade to reveal the unhappy woman beneath, she destroys his belongings then evicts him without payment.



Widowed father Lawrence Baxter staked his future on a gardening commission at a country estate. After a brief but scorching kiss, when Lawrence glimpses a passionate creature beneath her conceited exterior, she ruins his livelihood in a fit of spite, and he vows vengeance.



When Arabella loses her memory in an accident and is left destitute by her treacherous family, Lawrence seizes the opportunity to take her home to work off her debt—provided he can stomach her foul temper, and she can manage his unruly family. But as Arabella adapts to a life filled with chores and children, Lawrence finds himself falling in love with the woman who rises to each increasingly difficult challenge he gives her.



But their life is a lie. Lawrence owes Arabella the truth—even if the truth will cost him the woman he loves.



Contains mature themes.