"A desire too fierce to deny..."--Cover.

"A passion to last a lifetime..."--Endpaper.

What could be more tempting than surrendering to love? Emily Portsman has a secret, and three years ago she decided the best way to keep it would be to work at the Tantalus Club, a notorious gaming establishment for gentlemen. It's not the sort of work a beautiful, well-bred governess would ever consider -- unless she's hiding from her past and a man who wants to destroy her present .... Nate Stokes, Earl of Westfall, is a supremely accomplished former spy more at home on London's seedy streets than any glittery ballroom. His peers know him only as a bookish felllow who can find anything -- or anyone. When the Marquis of Ebberling hires him to find a murderess, Nate's search leads him to the Tantalus Club and Emily Portsman. In a game where no one is who they seem and when every conversation is a deadly dance of trust and desire, the only thing Nate knows for sure is that once he gets Emily in his arms, he will never let go ....