Eve has clearly interrupted a liaison with the beautiful, naked singer in Asa's bed, Asa mistakes Eve for an aspiring actress and insults her by suggesting that, with her looks, she'd be better suited to something back stage, and it deteriorates from there. Their first meeting is less than auspicious. Harte's rooms to cut off his credit when he continually refuses to provide receipts for the money he's spending to rebuild Harte's Folly - money provided by Eve's brother. It's that steel core that takes her to Mr. She has a sharp mind and a steel core when it comes to her duties as 'man' of business for her half-brother, the Duke of Montgomery. But, despite her fears, Eve is not helpless. At twenty-six, the prim and proper spinster lives with her devoted bodyguard (who accompanies her everywhere), his wife (her cook), and a personal maid. She's never known desire and doesn't want to. An unspeakable childhood trauma has left Eve with an intense fear of men and a revulsion of being touched.

With her tall, bird-like physique and her less than dainty nose, the best description she could ever hope for is plain. Disowned by his father and estranged from his siblings, Asa will do whatever it takes to bring Harte's Folly back to life, even if that means working side by side with the most irritating woman he's ever met.Įve Dinwoody could never be described as beautiful. Harte) is devoted to rebuilding Harte's Folly, his beloved theater and beautiful pleasure gardens that were destroyed by fire, at whatever the cost. Could two people be more different? Coarse, earthy, and able to charm the bloomers off any woman he wants, Asa Makepeace (a/k/a Mr.

Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt