Penelope Hunt is well on her way to becoming a spinster. When Colin Worthing courted her secretly for an entire season before making off with her virginity, he ensured that she could never make a good match ...or put the pieces of her broken heart back together again. His duplicity has her convinced that men are not to be trusted, and that she would be foolish to bind herself in marriage to one for the rest of her life. Deciding that life as a spinster has its benefits, she vows to avoid matrimony and enjoy her life in any way that she can - the inheritance to be had on her 25th birthday will see her endowed to do just that.

When the commissioned officer returns home years later, much older and wiser than the young rake who ruined her, he wants nothing more than to put his past behind him and make amends for his treatment of Penelope by marrying her. Setting out to woo her and convince her he's changed, he never expects competition in the form of his best friend, Edmond Ingham.

With both men out to steal her heart, a jaded Penelope begins a game of intrigues and passion - one that the members of the ton would be shocked to know she indulged in. But what does it matter when men have been breaking hearts since the dawn of time? Perhaps, the two men deserve to have their hearts played with.

And, perhaps, in two very different men, she will find that the love she thought couldn't exist for two might just be possible with three.