Love is a luxury he can't afford . . . For years, he was known only as Blackrose's Blade, an elite assassin in the employ of the Crown. But after a mission cost him the use of his leg, Rourke Lindsay has unexpectedly inherited a dukedom . . . and along with it, the headache of a pair of hellion twins. Now, he's in dire need of a miracle. He just didn't expect her to be quite so tempting. Needing a safe place to hide, Miss Sophia Cuny has forged her references and settled into the Duke of Exingham's employ, unwilling to admit she knows next to nothing about children. She does, however, know all about the Duke's painful past and why the cynical warrior refuses to allow himself close to a pair of rapscallion troublemakers, no matter how desperately they need his love. The longer she tries to avoid the new duke, the more she sees the man beneath the scars-the man who needs love as well-even if he's unwilling to admit it. Too bad she can't afford to allow him into her heart, even as the danger she's running from closes in. Because Sophia possesses secrets about his past even Rourke doesn't know, and revealing the truth will ruin them all. Contains mature themes.