ELOISE´S STORY Sir Phillip knew that Eloise Bridgerton was a spinster, and so he´d proposed, figuring that she´d be homely and unassuming, and more than a little desperate for an offer of marriage. Except . . . she wasn´t. The beautiful woman on his doorstep was anything but quiet, and when she stopped talking long enough to close her mouth, all he wanted to do was kiss her . . . and more. Did he think she was mad? Eloise Bridgerton couldn´t marry a man she had never met! But then she started thinking . . . and wondering . . . and before she knew it, she was in a hired carriage in the middle of the night, on her way to meet the man she hoped might be her perfect match. Except . . . he wasn´t. Her perfect husband wouldn´t be so moody and ill-mannered, and while Phillip was certainly handsome, he was a large brute of a man, rough and rugged, and totally unlike the London gentlemen vying for her hand. But when he smiled . . . and when he kissed her . . . the rest of the world simply fell away, and she couldn´t help but wonder . . . could this imperfect man be perfect for her?