Being a maid was much simpler than being the illegitimate sister of an earl. Lily Harkins has learned that lesson the hard way. Now, she has not one, but four aristocratic suitors. Her brother will expect her to choose one. Trouble is, she doesn’t want any of them. The handsome clerk she recently met, however, is another story entirely. She’ll just have to convince her brother that marrying a commoner wouldn’t be a huge mistake. And she knows just how she’s going to do it.
William Overby is perfectly happy with the middle-class lifestyle his job affords him. He was, at least. Until he met her. The lovely Lily is everything he could ever want in a wife. It’s just his unfortunate luck that she’s also completely out of reach for someone of his station. He knows he should stay away. And yet…he doesn’t. He can’t…Can Lily and William find a way to bridge their opposite worlds and take a shot at happily ever after? Or will the dictates of an unforgiving society overtake the lure of forbidden love and The Desire of a Lady?