England is under threat from Napoleon, but it doesn't affect those in high society, or does it? Charles Baker, the young Baron Glazebrook, has happily fallen under the spell of a man of dubious character. He is rampaging over London, enjoying everything that a young man with a fortune could wish for. Clara Baker is compelled to try and protect her brother, no matter what the cost is to herself or her reputation.

Oliver Bailey - a mill owner who is looking for investment from the ton but certainly isn't looking for a wife. Baron Johnson - used appallingly by the young woman he's deeply in love with. Captain Peterson - a successful ship's captain who has at least one girl in every port. Mr. Lucas - a business rival to Oliver Bailey who has an ulterior motive no one else is aware of. Four stories intertwined in a way none could foresee. Their lives will never be the same. 

Miss Phoebe Westbrook wishes she was anywhere other than at Lord Livesey’s house party. Family loyalty and duty forced her to accept the invitation. When she overhears Lord Livesey’s opinion of her, she knows he feels the same. Determined to make the most of his library whilst visiting, she soon finds herself being drawn into the lives of Lord Livesey and his children, whether she likes it or not. Meanwhile, Lord Livesey has lived a lie. His marriage was not the love match everyone presumed. His children are strangers to him. 

Anthony Russell, Earl of Lever, has to marry before his 30th birthday. That's what his father’s will dictates. A man who has always been socially awkward and at a loss of how to communicate easily with people is determined to marry to save his heritage. But he has no real idea of how to avoid making a blundering mess of the situation he is faced with.

Rowley Knight, Duke of Knighton, is too busy being a duke to bother with such nonsense as love. With three heirs, he is in no hurry whatsoever to succumb to the lures of the leg-shackles. He is content managing his siblings and estates, and avoiding society whenever possible. If he can only find someone to manage his young sister, life can go back to its proper order.