It began as a battle of wits and ended as a surrender of hearts. Catherine Alaway has few regrets in life, save one. Though her neighbors consider her well past the age for courtship, she still harbors a quiet hope that love might find her. When the Duke of Elverton comes to visit, however, marriage is the furthest thing from her mind. She wants only to avoid him—and the sting of his rejection she previously endured. Joshua Banfield, Duke of Elverton, seeks nothing more than a peaceful stay in the country, far from the endless duties of his title. What he does not expect is to find himself drawn into a battle of wits and schemes with his friend’s clever younger sister. But the more mischief they trade, the more he finds his heart entangled in the game. Between spilled tea, frogs in boots, and one very muddy sheep, Catherine and Joshua discover that love often arrives in the most vexing, and delightful, of disguises.