Matthew Pruitt, Earl of Pennyworth, struggles to get ahead in society. He'd made an awful mistake four years' prior, trusting the word of a blackguard over his own conscience. He was now shunned by the woman, her husband, the formidable Duke of Guildford, and most of society. He thinks he'll never be more than forlorn Lord Pennyworth, ostracized to the outside circles of the ton, until he meets Lady Felicity Pruitt.
Felicity's father, the Marquess of Scarborough, is on his deathbed. With no living sons, the title will pass to an obscure and unknown third cousin. The heir to her father's title could very well push Felicity, her mother, and four younger sisters to the wayside. Her father had tried to provide for them, but he'd invested their dowries with a conman and lost it all. The rest of his fortune was entailed with the estate, and therefore belonged to the next Marquess. Felicity is determined to secure a future for her family, even if it means sacrificing her own happiness. She sets off to find the mysterious cousin and convince him to look after his long-lost family.
Matthew is stunned by the stranger he finds sitting in his parlor and finds himself instantly attracted to her nerve as well as her beauty. Felicity is shocked to discover that the Earl of Pennyworth isn't an old married man like she'd assumed, but a young man, unattached, and quite handsome.
She makes an offer to the earl to safeguard her family's future but is taken aback when the earl gives her an offer of his own. One that she's hard-pressed to refuse.