Penelope Hartson is tired of London life. The gentlemen are a nuisance, the parties are boring, and she is tired of getting her feet trampled on. All she really wanted to do is read her romance novels and be left alone. When she meets Harrison Barstow, a scholar from the Royal Society, she realizes that perhaps she has suffered to have that one singular moment with someone who understands. 

James Barstow, Duke of Embry, has everything. He's wealthy, powerful, and there is no shortage of women that vie for his attention. Men want to be him and women want to be with him. He has no intentions of settling down until his boorish cousin, Harrison Barstow, brings a beguiling creature to his mother's week-long celebration in the country. Suddenly he finds himself panting after someone else entirely.