Reliability. Trustworthiness. Dignity. These are only a few of the characteristics supporting Marcus Sherbrook's reputation as the perfect gentleman. Or almost perfect, as there is one significant smirch on his record: the rebellion of one Miss Isabel Dunham who, at the age of seventeen, defied Marcus's guardianship, eloped, and fled to India.

The widowed Isabel returned to England ten years ago, and has been making Marcus's cool gray eyes flash ever since not that he'd give her the satisfaction of knowing it. But when Isabel is threatened by the schemes of a blackmailer, Marcus's attempts to protect her lead to yet another spontaneous marriage—and kindle the embers of a desire never acknowledged, but now impossible to deny.