Beckett Raines, the Marquis of Hentrose, needs a wife, and he’s resigned to participating in the Season to search for a suitable mother for his young daughter Rebecca. Beckett is determined to wed for practicality rather than love—and he thinks he’s found the perfect, proper woman for the job.

Instead, he’s stunned when his new next door neighbor Iris Silbern bursts into his London home in pursuit of her mischievous son Edmund. Her ferocity, sharp wit, and humor charm him, but she is by no means proper. Meanwhile, Iris’ relations are trying to set up a match with a wealthy, elderly duke—an answer to her financial troubles, if not her resistant heart.

Rebecca and Edmund have no interest in practical plans, not when the perfect father and mother are right in front of them. With only one Season to summon Cupid, they scheme to bring their parents together. But will Beckett realize how perfect a messy life can be? And will Iris open her heart to a man who may not be a duke, but something even better?