The London Season! Glittering balls, society, handsome beaus. Every Regency lady’s dream. But not Katerina Fortune’s. And she takes drastic, shocking action to avoid it.…

In an inn, on the way to her first London Season, Katerina Fortune hears something that gives her a chance to escape her fate. Acting on impulse, she hires a gig and presents herself to a reclusive gentleman to offer herself as a bride. For Katerina, the eighth daughter of Castle Fortune (her Yorkshire home) has no intention of letting her father sell her to the highest bidder in town.

The gentleman, who turns out to be the tall and shabby Earl of Covington, naturally refuses her. He does not believe her tale that she too seeks seclusion and a marriage in name only. However, Katerina has broken her ankle, and so it seems that she must remain with her maid at Covington Park for some weeks to come.

Although in pain, Katerina is truly happy at Covington. She does not see the earl, except at their silent dinners, and he soon realizes that she really is not seeking to woo him. Katerina’s happiness is in the same seclusion that he enjoys while doing his academic work, and he realizes that she is more than just "bookish" herself. She is, in fact, remarkable.

With his brutish but amusing servants looking on, this strange pair seem to ignore each other but are really sharing a connection in a different way than anyone could imagine.

His friend and neighbor Sir Andrew Templeton and his sister (and Covington’s old love) Fiona come to shake the pair from their isolation, touching the hearts of both.