If there’s one thing American heiress Adelia Fox knows, it’s that the haughty and arrogant Duke of Marchingham is a heartless monster. Why else would he refuse to allow his sisters to pay her a visit in New York City during the Christmas season for the third year in a row? Fortunately, Addy’s arrived at a clever solution. If her friends can’t come to her, she will simply go to them.

Lionel Hawthorne, the Duke of Marchingham, is doing everything in his power to keep his failing estates running and to see his wayward sisters settled down with proper husbands. The last thing he needs is for Letty and Lila to go gallivanting to New York City. There’s no telling what manner of mischief a notorious hoyden like the dreadful Miss Fox would land them in. His refusal of their request is as necessary as it is practical. Instead, he sends them off to his aunt and uncle whilst he remains in Yorkshire.

Addy arrives in the midst of a snowstorm to find that her dearest friends are not at Marchingham Hall as she had supposed. Instead, only their tyrant of a brother is in residence. The rapidly accumulating snow means she’s trapped with the icy and disapproving duke in a threadbare manor house that is bereft of even the tiniest hint of Yuletide. To make matters worse, the duke is maddeningly handsome…when he’s not glowering at her, that is. Lion can’t believe his misfortune. Bad enough that he’s had to endure Miss Fox’s dubious influence upon his sisters from afar. Now, he’s snowed in with the hellion. The wretched chit is every bit as outrageous and improper as he imagined. So why can’t he stop thinking about what it would be like to take her in his arms and tame that willful mouth with a kiss?