The last thing Camden Huxley wants is to sort out his family's sprawling Yorkshire estate, along with its squabbling tenants, retainers, and neighbors. Cam nonetheless turns his back on his greatest passion–trade–and travels to Lorne Hall, telling himself all the while that he's merely making the duty visit required of any new titleholder.

Matters at the Hall are in serious disarray, but what alarms Cam even more are the matchmaking ambitions aimed in his direction. Miss Alice Singleton, granddaughter of the antediluvian estate steward, is a voice of reason and common sense, and she's also sweet, kind, and possessed of a wicked sense of humor. To Cam's bafflement, Alice alone seems to have no interest in becoming his baroness. For her part, Alice is indeed smitten with the new baron, but she has learned to avoid entanglements of any kind, and she is determined to make no exceptions even if this time, she really has fallen in love.

Cam and Alice will have to overcome old secrets and new betrayals, and learn to trust their hearts and each other if they are to have any chance of a shared and joyous future.