Captain Duncan Worthington Everleigh had committed his life to king and country. When he returns to London in 1814, a startling revelation about the legitimacy of his brother the Duke alters his future. No discovery could be more life-changing than what he feels for Lady Florence Lloyd-Smith. To protect her, no sacrifice is too great, even if it costs him her love.

Too headstrong, independent, and beautiful for her own good, the widow Lady Lloyd-Smith isn't the carefree lady of leisure she pretends to be. She has pulled herself from bitter poverty and through careful investment has amassed a substantial fortune. She has little time for men who treat all women as bubble-headed nodcocks or consider her tarnished because she's in trade. She has little need for men at all, until she meets Captain Everleigh. The violence of her love for him leaves her trembling.

Captain Duncan finds in Lady Florence a woman he can love with unchecked passion. Lady Florence finds in Captain Duncan a man who will love, honor, and protect her, even if it's from himself.