Lady Amelia has little desire for a suitor. An unusual woman for her time, she is capable and independent, just as her loving father raised her. But the laws of inheritance are the unjust sort, and she stands to lose her family's lands if she cannot find a suitable, proper husband before the passing of her increasingly ill father.
Duke Robert is a man of strong character and traditional views. But he finds himself taken with the young heiress -- and increasingly sharing her unpopular views. But she is a hard woman, and in an age where marriages are more about cementing family alliances and less about true love, it is not an easy match for him to make.
The two struggle to overcome their differences, and eventually find themselves thrust into unexpected danger, with the end result that Lady Amelia finally stops denying the duke.