A widowed duchess yearning to find love. An orphan who became a sea captain. A powerful, forbidden love which ignites between the pair . . .

Dinah Strong, the Dowager Duchess of Seaton, was forced to wed a man much older than herself. Much to his dismay, she gifts him with four daughters, who, along with the two nieces she raises, became the lights in an otherwise dismal life.

Now widowed, Dinah decides to participate in the Season, hoping she might be fortunate enough to finally find love. None of the gentlemen appeal to her–because of one man she cannot forgot.

Drake Andrews is a man who is everything her late husband was not. The sea captain is bold, daring, and unafraid of taking risks, not to mention his sinfully delicious good looks. Dinah met him briefly before he sailed off on a lengthy voyage, and she finds her thoughts turning to him more and more.

Captain Andrews was an orphan raised at sea, and it is the only life he has ever known. He has finally achieved his goal of captaining his own vessel for Neptune Shipping Lines, but he can't seem to get the Dowager Duchess of Seaton out of his mind. His closest friend and former fellow seaman introduced Drake to her just before Drake set sail on his maiden voyage as a captain, and the woman has haunted his dreams every night.

Now back in London and between sailing assignments, Drake calls upon the dowager duchess, finding despite their origins, they have much in common. Their growing attraction flames into a torrid affair, with Dinah declaring her wish for them to wed.

Will Drake allow obstacles to keep them apart–or will love triumph over Polite Society's expectations for the widowed duchess?