After their strategic 'marriage of commerce' three years ago, Rule quite forgot about Violet Griffin, the teenage heiress to a Boston manufacturing fortune. He simply spoke his vows, took over her father's business and returned to England to resume his usual pursuits high–priced wine, high–stakes gambling and high–born women. Yet when Violet, now a sophisticated woman, unexpectedly appears at Rule's London town house, husbandly duties no longer seem so odious he can't wait to take his stunning bride to their marriage bed. Violet however, is not so easily led she has her own ideas and is seeking an annulment so she can marry another. But as Rule attempts to win her over, someone else is determined to frame him for murder and keep him out of the way for good.