In 1816 England, pretty Eleanor Devayne teaches young ladies at Miss Merryford's Academy. Although Ellie's job scandalizes her family, Ellie is happy, because she's supporting her small sister.
Everything changes when Major Jack Halliard visits Ellie. The handsome major was with her father, a general, who died at the Battle of Waterloo. He presents Ellie with her father's sword.
She doesn't want it.
Ellie stares at the sword as if it were a live cobra. All the bitterness of her final confrontation with her father comes rushing back to her.
She refuses the sword, and sends the major away. She doesn't realize that she'll soon meet him again.
Summoned to her family's estate, Ellie is ordered to marry the man her uncle has chosen for her. She refuses. When Major Halliard arrives as a guest, he becomes her friend. She can't understand the feelings he arouses in her.
A shock: Jack reveals that her father made a new will on the eve of the battle.
Ellie is an heiress, but only if she dares to claim her inheritance, and perhaps the gallant major too.