He wants a respectable bride who will not ask for more than he can give–love. She has no need or desire to marry, and love is the only thing that might change her mind.

Hugh Brandforth, the seventh Earl of Ormsley, returns to his estate after wasting several weeks searching for a bride. He is looking forward to some much-needed rest and recreation. All is not as he left it, however, and within the space of an hour, he finds himself berated by his old nurse, assaulted by an eccentric termagant, and subjected to the disrespect of her coachman.

Wishing to escape Bath and avoid the imminent proposal of a determined rake, Miss Cressida Harrington accepts Lady Ormsley’s offer of the dower house at Leighfield Park. A peaceful sojourn in the country is just what she needs. If Cressy did not expect to find the house in disarray and the garden a wilderness, these minor inconveniences do not have the power to disturb her. The unexpected presence of an earl she had no notion existed is quite another matter.

Secrets and scandal lurk behind the respectable façade of the house and grounds. Will they bring them together or drive them apart?