One man with a secret. A family torn apart by the consequences.

Mr Bertram Atherton has one foot in the Ancient World, emerging from his library only to eat and sleep. But when the chaplain of his uncle, the Earl of Rennington, is brutally murdered, it is revealed that he was never ordained and so the earl's marriage was invalid, and his children rendered illegitimate. Bertram's father is now the heir to the earldom, and Bertram after him. It's a horrifying change of circumstances for a man only interested in intellectual pursuits.

Miss Beatrice Franklyn is shocked to discover that her betrothed, the earl's eldest son, has been disinherited and can't make her a countess. But his cousin Bertram will inherit now, and he'll do, won't he? Bea sets her sights on a second betrothal, and she usually gets her way. How can unworldly Bertram resist her feminine wiles? But no matter how many tricks she tries and how determined she is to lure him into matrimony, she finds that Bertram is equally determined not to be lured. Which of them will win the battle of wills?