It is 1870 Oxfordshire and  Rebecca Newland and her father are homeward bound when there is a loud thump. Later they find themselves stopped in the middle of nowhere and no sign of the driver. When a stranger approaches, Rebecca’s father warns her to get back into the coach. She does so and then the coach horses bolt at the sight of a raven swooping down. Eventually the stranger stops the runaways and Rebecca learns her saviour is Devin Sinclair, Marquess of Hawthorne.

Four years later, Devin has returned to Pembroke Palace after three years travel abroad. If it wasn’t for his mother’s fiftieth birthday and the grand masquerade ball, he would still be in America. When a lady dressed as Helen of Troy passes him, he has the feeling that he has met this lady before, but where? She entrances him and he learns she is Lady Rebecca, the same woman he rescued some years ago, and that she is the daughter of the Earl of Creighton. Since something in his past haunts him, he has no intention of marrying, but he would not mind a passionate encounter with Rebecca.