The Marquess (5 points!--I assign points to title levels in historical romances, just for fun, why not?) of Vere is a secret agent of sorts. In public, he plays a bumbling idiot. In private he is a secret agent who helps detectives solve cases. He's been doing this for years and years and not even his family and closest friends know that he is living a lie. When he meets Miss Elissande Douglas--the niece of a suspect in a case--he immediately recognizes that she is acting a role but underestimates her desire to escape her uncle's household and protect her invalid aunt, and she ends up trapping him into an undesired marriage. And it doesn't take her long to see the truth under her husband's mask. Thomas's strength lies in portraying these complex--and not always completely likeable-- characters in complex relationships and emotionally intense situations without making you lose faith in their eventual happiness.