Whitney Stone was not really conscious of the Duke of Claymore, a dark and rather sardonic figure, who watched her grow from a cheeky hoyden into a ravishingly beautiful but quite outrageous young woman. Fresh from her triumphs in Paris, she returned to England determined to win the heart of her childhood love. But she had reckoned without her profligate and bankrupt father, and the arrogant Duke of Claymore. In order to save himself from ruin, her father had come to an arrangement with the Duke, and Whitney was the price.
As a resentful and smouldering bride, Whitney was quite a handful, and in spite of the unexpected sparks of passion that flamed between them, she would not, could not, relinquish her dreams of the perfect love.