Matilda starts a war with a brooding Lord Castleton when she throws a snowball at his head...

Becoming the Earl of Castleton wasn't something Arthur Brynnwood wanted. But after he learned of his great-uncle's ing, the responsibility of running such a vast estate was thrust on Arthur's shoulders. When he arrives at the estate and sees the mismanagement of the properties he loses his temper and raises the rent on the tenants of a small cottage on his land.

Feisty Matilda Matthews comes to him the next day, pleading for leniency for herself and her ailing aunt who live in the cottage for free. Too used to the wiles of women, Arthur remains unmoved by her words and won't reconsider.

The next thing he knows, he's choking on a snowball thrown at his face and Matilda is marching away, back straight and head held proudly high. Once again, his temper explodes. He grabs her and wrestles the shrieking, kicking woman to a bedchamber and locks her in until he decides what to do with her.

He's intrigued and reluctantly impressed by Matilda's show of spirit. She's not the usual, simpering, coy type of women who all but worship at his feet in London. And her beauty . . . he feels an unexpected lust when he imagines her long, russet hair and a gaze that begs for him to kiss her. Deciding it's been too long since he's had a mistress, he knows exactly how to solve the problem of Matilda: he'll allow her free use of the cottage she lives in for the rest of her life in exchange for being his mistress this Christmas season...