Vivian Darius is dying. Or at least that is the prognosis of her doctor and parents. But during a (shaky) walk her companion and former governess is struck on the head by a carriage door carelessly flung open, which leads to Vivian meeting a very attractive man from whom she receives her first kiss. She does not expect to meet Lord Everleigh again, but he turns out to be the man a rather disreputable vagrant woman demands Vivian marry in return for the medicine she insists will cure her. Which it does. Though he finds her increasingly attractive, he is understandably reluctant to wed, but then they are discovered in a compromising situation. He proposes, but she, surprisingly, declines: she will marry only for love, and Everleigh believes his heart is dead after earlier disappointments.

If the reader can handle the unlikely and convoluted plot, the latter part of the novel does become more involving: will they, or won’t they? Since this is a Regency romance, the outcome can be anticipated, but unexpected obstacles do keep cropping up.