Lady Winnifred Waverley, daughter of the Duke of Townsend, walked the fringes of Society harboring a horrible secret. A secret so damning that it would shatter her entire family and destroy any chance for her younger sister Anne to find a love match. When the blackmail notes arrived on her doorstep, Lady Winnifred had no choice but to go time and again to The Soiled Dove, a secret gambling hell, where she won...and won...and won. Her brilliance at the gaming tables provided the only way she could gather funds to pay her blackmailers. But in so doing, she played into the hands of The Dove's unscrupulous owners. Now there was only one man who could save her from ruination at their hands. One man who guessed her secret. One man who stirred her frozen heart. One man who nearly died in her place. Nick Stillman knew he was right. Lady Winnifred was harboring a killer everyone thought was dead. But he couldn't prove it. Not without getting closer to the woman. If he could manage that, he could bring a fugitive to justice and free Lady Winnifred from her desperate need for funds. If he could manage that, Winnie would no longer feel the need to risk her virtue by gambling at The Soiled Dove. If he could manage that, he might have a chance at thawing the icy resolve of the lady who had stolen his heart.