She was considered at best a “woman with a past”, at worst a rich and noble libertine, wasting her life in gay Paris, no one ever guessed what led Sophia Raleigh, Duchess of Everdon, into voluntary exile - and what made her play the role of a vicious "adventurer". No one - except the stern, gloomy Adrian Birchard, forced to become Sophia's companion and protector on the way to England and burning with burning passion for this woman...