Jonas Langford, Duke of Ramsdale, knows he is a beast and no one can possibly love him. He was the ton's most eligible and desired bachelor before the Napoleonic War left him horribly scarred and had him retreating to live out his life in solitude. That is, until one Miss Ailis Temple, the beautiful spinster he thinks of as Miss Temple of Virtue, tumbles off her horse in front of his home. What else is a duke to do with a snowstorm approaching but take her in and tend to her wounds? She came to him seeking charity contributions for the local vicarage—however, he strikes a bargain. She is to give him ten kisses, a hundred pounds a kiss, he says, never believing she will accept. But she does, and Jonas realizes his life may never be the same again.

Ten kisses, this is the bargain Ailis Temple strikes with the dangerously daunting Duke of Ramsdale in exchange for his charity donation. Dear heaven, what has she done? The duke is big and muscled, built like a warrior, and never smiles. But he has the sinful look of a man who knows how to kiss, and she, having never been kissed, is not about to pass up the opportunity. However, neither of them expected her to fall off her horse and be injured in front of his home, nor did they plan on the impending snowstorm to trap her with him for days. Will their ten kisses lead to her ruin? Or open their hearts to love?