If only Miss Lisle Berry Thynne's gown hadn't been so fully cut, or she hadn't been caught kissing that prince . . . But now the ton believes Lisle to be with royal child - and therefore unmarriageable - so she might as well make her desperate father happy by consenting to wed a beast.

A brilliant surgeon with a reputation for losing his temper - and a wound believed to have left him . . . incapable - Piers, Earl of Montague, should welcome a bride-to-be carrying a ready-made, blue-blooded heir. But Piers isn't fooled by the lady's subterfuge, and though Lisle's devilishly smart and charming with a loveliness that outshines the sun, there will be no wedding of beauty to beast.

Still, Lisle finds the gorgeous brute intriguing, with a spark of gentility behind his growl that's worth fanning. And it's obvious to the naked eye that 'incapable' does not mean 'uninterested' . . .