Brigit Winnet is not quite what she seems. An orphan with no interest in becoming a governess or prostitute, she's had to get a little creative in order to support herself. The enigmatic Lord Edmond Westmoreland can solve all of her problems, and she can solve his biggest one. Westmoreland, the handsome ex-Naval officer, grieving his father's death, must convince Brigit to marry him in order to inherit his fortune. While he threatens Brigit on every level, she entices him body and soul. Struggling between her past and her future, love and loneliness, passion and betrayal, she must decide if he is worth the price of her independence.