Daffodil Farthingale, known as Dillie to her friends and family, is horrified to learn the man she has just rescued from ruffians outside the Farthingale townhouse is none other than Ian Markham, the notorious Duke of Edgeware. If the Chipping Way bachelor curse holds true, she’s doomed to marry the wretched rakehell. Dillie wants a man who will love her and be faithful in the marriage. The duke will never do, for he harbors secret torments and has sworn he will never fall in love or marry.

When scandal breaks—after all, he does spend a week recovering in her bed—Dillie leaves London, little knowing that the handsome duke has just left town as well. With the Farthingale family and his assailants on their trail, Ian and Dillie suddenly find themselves trapped in the same charming inn during a torrential rainstorm. Can Ian overcome his haunted past, and can Dillie ever overcome her mistrust of him... to wind up falling in love?