Diana Worthing is the wife of an English naval hero, daughter of a naval hero—she's had quite enough of heroes, thank you. So when James Ardmore, Southern gentleman pirate hunter and thorn in the side of the British navy, abducts her from a tedious house party and spirits her off to his ship, she lets him know what she thinks of heroes.

James interrogates her about the tiny island of Haven her father owns, where Diana and her father and deaf daughter retreat to escape the world. Diana resists, knowing that Captain Ardmore is an enemy of the English. But when Ardmore pins her to the wall of his cabin and asks her to sail away with him, sparks fly, and the temptation is great. But though Diana is an unhappily married woman, she has a daughter who needs her, and she refuses.

James knows the island of Haven holds the secret to the pirate he's been hunting for years. He can't bend the beautiful Lady Worthing to his will, though James is intrigued by this woman of unquenchable fire. He lets her go, learning nothing. But he's pleased to find himself stranded on Haven the following year, Diana Worthing now a widow, and the sparks between them just as hot.