1817. At his aunt’s insistence, Jasper Warren, Duke of Stone, reluctantly agrees at last to consider marriage to provide an heir, but when the lovely, and well-dowered, Mitchell sisters, are presented to him, it is not them but their beautiful widowed chaperone to whom he feels drawn. Amelia Durant shares the attraction, but as the sisters’ matchmaker she feels an obligation to promote their prospects over her own. And after an unfortunate marriage, furthermore, she is wary of another. How will the conflict between heart and head play out?

There are some interesting echoes of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, especially the villain of the piece who bears more than a passing resemblance to Wickham. The plot, however, has weaknesses: the scenes of love-making are unnecessarily protracted; the obstacles to a happy ending melt away too easily; and would ‘the wealthiest Duke in all of Britain,’ a man noted for his pride, really consider marriage to the daughter of a banker, however substantial her dowry? Darcy married down, but the social gulf here is even wider.