The tenth earl of Berham did not know what to do. An attractive 32-year-old bachelor, he had been appointed guardian of the young Freddie Armstrong, the eighteen-year-old grandson of his late father's dear friend. That was bad enough. Then he discovered that this boy was really a girl! It was against all convention and against his personal code to keep a young lady concealed in his own home. He had to find a solution.

The earl's frequent visitor, Lady Clarissa Rennenord, heartily agreed—but for less noble reasons. Lady Clarissa hoped to snare the earl in marriage and she did not want any competition. She recommended that Freddie be sent to a seminary. No one but Lady Rennenord knew what a horrid place it was. No one, including Lady Rennenord, had expected Freddie to escape. Now Freddie was back, and the earl found her presence unsettling in more ways than one.