Having never seen a love match that didn't end in disaster, Lady Maryann Rivington is determined to wed for practical reasons. So the last thing she wants to hear is a slanderous accusation against her carefully-chosen betrothed. She can't imagine why the handsome stranger who approached her in the Botanic Gardens is so intent on preventing her marriage. But she is so befuddled by the passion in his eyes that she no longer feels rational in the least.