When Miss Althea Claywell overhears her uncle's decision to marry her to his sixty-year-old friend, she runs away. Her escape lands her in a small village where she encounters Lord Preston Ambrose, Viscount Melcombe, who is also in need of a governess for his five nieces. Althea accepts the position with little reservation. Her uncle would never think to look for her at Ambrose Hall.

Preston had wanted Miss Claywell from the first moment he spied her in London, but only managed to secure two dances before he had to return home. When he stumbles across Miss Claywell in the village, he offers her the only position that she's likely to accept. What he really wants is to have her in his bed.

Will desire rule, or will they manage to find love before Althea is found?