First he’ll learn her most intimate secrets. Then he’ll arouse her deepest passions. He’s the lover she’s been waiting for: the man who can rescue her from her wicked past–for a price–in Madeline Hunter’s tale of sin, seduction, and irresistible, impossible love. He catches her eye across the dining room–a handsome stranger who stands out among the lewd noblemen and bawdy painted women. But their worlds are about to collide in a way Roselyn Longworth could never have imagined. For before the night is out, she will be auctioned off to the highest bidder…and Kyle Bradwell will lead her from one kind of hell to another. Yet from the moment he wins her, Kyle treats Rose with a gentleness she hasn’t known since a family scandal destroyed her reputation. And when she finally learns what is really driving Kyle, it’s too late. For Rose has fallen for the man who knows her most intimate secrets. Now he has stunned her with a proposal of marriage–the first step in a seduction that will demand nothing less than her complete surrender.… Roselyn Longworth’s brother bilked investors of every stripe, from high-born lords to average folk, then fled England for the Continent. Bereft, Roselyn decides to accept her fate and become a lord’s mistress. She is then shocked when, after giving herself to him, he auctions her off at a rowdy dinner party. Kyle Bradwell has business with the host. When he sees what’s going on, he bids an outrageous sum for Roselyn. He knows who she is. As a self-made man, however successful, he could never approach a woman of her status. Having no intention of using her, he delivers Roselyn to her nearest relation. But the damage to her reputation is done. Will Kyle make things right? Neither he nor Roselyn can guess how much they will begin to mean to each other, or how secrets Kyle keeps will threaten their new relationship, in Hunter’s captivating, compelling story of two people succeeding against all odds. --Maria Hatton Madeline Hunter is a nationally bestselling author of historical romances who lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons. In a parallel existence to the one she enjoys as a novelist, she has a Ph.D. in art history and teaches at an East Coast university. Chapter One Roselyn Longworth contemplated her damnation.   Hell was not fire and brimstone, she realized. It consisted of merciless self-awareness. You learned the truth about yourself in hell. You faced the lies that you had told your soul in order to justify doing the wrong thing. Hell was also eternal humiliation, such as she was suffering at this country house party. All around her Lord Norbury's other guests laughed and played while they awaited the call to dinner. Upon arriving yesterday in Lord Norbury's coach, she had discovered that the guest list was not what she expected. The men were all members of polite society, but the women— A loud screech interrupted her thoughts. A woman in a garish sapphire dinner dress playfully fought with a man who had grabbed her. The other men shouted encouragement to the fellow. Even Norbury urged him on. After a display of mock resistance, his captive surrendered to the kind of embrace and kiss that no one else should see. Roselyn surveyed the painted faces and extreme attire of the other women. The men had not brought their wives with them. They had not even brought their refined mistresses. These women were common prostitutes imported from London's brothels. She suspected a few could not even claim that pedigree. And here she sat among them. She could not hide from the stark implications. The other men had brought their whores, and Lord Norbury had brought his. How could she have misunderstood the events of the last month so badly? She tried to put her mind back to the day of Lord Norbury's first flatteries and overtures, but the memory was gone now, burned to ashes by the ruthless fire of reality during the last twenty-four hours. The lover in question strolled among his guests, coming toward her. With each step the lights in his eyes brightened a bit more. She had thought those were the flames of love and passion. She now saw them as reflections off ice. She had been pathetically stupid. "You are very quiet, Rose. You have been all day." He sidled closely, looming beside her chair. A day ago she would have welcomed his closeness and found his attention romantic. Stupid, stupid woman. "I begged you to allow me to leave. I am in this drawing room only because you demanded that I come down for dinner, so do not complain that I do not engage in your party's games. I do not care for the company or the free behavior being shown." Over in the corner the embracing couple were lost to the world, but the world could watch their groping all the same. "My, you are proud. Far more proud than you should be." His mutter carried a cruel edge. Her nape prickled. He alluded to more than her disapproval of his house party. She had refused him things last night. She had not e