Lady Cassandra Howard has frequented gambling hells as her father's lucky charm since childhood - but luck ran out along the way. Now, her brother intends to sell her into marriage with a wealthy, dissolute rake. Cass has done many things for her family, but this won't be one of them.

Her neighbour, "Saint" Wyatt Mannering, Earl of Merrick, has chosen a bride - one as proper and virtuous as he. But when lovely Cass attempts to trick him into marriage with seduction, he's almost tempted - except she's much too naïve to be a seductress and his conscience won't let him. By saving her reputation, he ruins her life. After a young man nearly dies in a duel attempting to protect Cass from her abusive husband, she flees to her burned-out home in the country - the estate next to Wyatt's, where she vows never to be dependent on another man, including the earl, who is rapidly losing his halo over his ravishing new neighbor.