Neville Perceval, the bankrupt Duke of Anglesey, has been burdened since youth with more responsibility than one man should handle. He has finally accepted that he needs to marry a wealthy, gracious lady who will ease his burdens and smooth his political path.

Fiona MacDermot, the rebellious, untamed cousin of an Irish earl, has the freedom and independence Neville has never known. Like the duke, she needs cash to help starving villagers and orphans. Unfortunately, she'd rather earn a living than have anything to do with useless men, and the politicians she knows all belong at the wrong end of a rope.

But when the duke is nearly beaten to death, and Fiona's looms are lost to a murdering thief, their lives are entangled in ways that threaten their futures. Lust shouldn't factor into their destinies, but it does, and now they have to find their dreams together, or die trying.