Claire Brennan knows exactly what her family expects from her.

Marry Thomas Hale.

At forty-seven, Thomas is established, powerful, and more than twenty years older than Claire. He also holds the answer to the financial disaster threatening her family. The arrangement is simple: Claire becomes his wife, and the problems disappear.

But Thomas has wanted Claire for years, and he has no intention of treating their marriage like a business transaction.

Once the courthouse papers are signed, Claire discovers that Thomas has very specific ideas about what it means to be his wife. He wants to know where she is. Who she talks to. When she'll be home. And behind closed doors, his need for control runs even deeper.

Claire should hate every rule.

Instead, the more Thomas takes control, the harder it becomes to separate resentment from desire. The marriage that began as something done to her slowly becomes something far more complicated—something possessive, consuming, and dangerously close to exactly what she needs.

She was supposed to be the price of an arrangement.

Thomas intends to make her his.