At sixteen, Arabella Hadley was deflowered and then abandoned by her lover, the Duke of Wexford. She survived this blow and, not without success, began smuggling French cognac, deciding that tender feelings had no place in her life.

Now, years later, fate again brings Arabella together with the Duke, the very man she, as it seemed to her, she had erased it from her memory forever...

And old grievances recede somewhere. And for some reason my heart beats faster. What is this? Is it really love again?..