Misty rain clings to a funeral veil, and Chloe Verdier stands at the grave of her sister, the perfect daughter, the diamond the Verdier name never had to polish. Chloe limps. Chloe stutters. Chloe has spent her entire life as the second-rate spare in a family that only saw defect beside death. Then Duke Thierry Moreau arrives at the burial in a sweep of black wool, his expression unreadable, his reputation darker. He does not offer condolences. He offers a ring — to the wrong sister. The whispers hiss through the pews before she can catch her breath: the duke wants the crippled one, the embarrassment, the woman whose own parents cannot meet her eyes .

Before she can understand what he has seen, the engagement is signed. Thierry's pursuit is relentless, scalding, a steam engine where other men are candle flame. He claims her limp is nothing, her stutter is nothing, and for one hallucinatory year Chloe believes the Duke of Death Mountain is the only soul who ever looked at her without flinching. Then a single overheard conversation shatters the glass. The verdant pastures of his affection were a hunting ground. His love was a weapon, and she was the target dummy with a wealthy estate pinned to her chest . Chloe Verdier, the woman who learned to walk quietly so no one would hear her shame, now has to learn to walk on a grave she intends to dig. The duke wanted the spare? He is about to discover what the Verdier name does to those who mistake weakness for prey.

Also known as: Dignity Betrayed, Pumwi Itneun Bedaem, 품위있는 배덕, The Elegant Deception of Dignity.