As Miss Luce of Luxton Hall, Miranda always expected to make her debut at Almack's. But when her father's death leaves her penniless, the spirited young miss decides to embark on a career as an actress at her brother-in-law Edward's theater, rather than become a dependent poor relative or worse, a wife. When Edward is wrongly arrested for debts, Miranda and her sister Mary have to come up with the funds to free him from debtors prison, or lose everything.

Lord Justin Devereux needs a fiancée — in a hurry! But the young nobleman has no intention of being maneuvered in the parson's mousetrap. Eager to take control of his inheritance and escape the brittle, unsatisfying social scene of the London ton, he hires an actress who can act the part of his betrothed.

But when Justin hires Miranda, neither of them expected the upheaval their masquerade would produce, nor did they expect to fall in love…

Note: Previously published elsewhere under the title The World's a Stage , now substantially revised and altered.