Julianne MacLean is a gifted story teller and I enjoyed reading this novel. I am looking forward to her next one (April of 2008) and meeting up with all of these interesting and well-developed characters yet again.

Seventeen-year old Lady Rebecca Newland and her father, the Earl of Creighton, were on their way home from London when their coachman tumbled drunk over the side of the coach, landing them in the midst of a forest. Devon Sinclair, Lord Hawthorne, the son of the Duke of Pembroke, stops to assist them. The spooked horses take off with the coach, with Rebecca still inside of it. Devon, a twenty-four year old, darkly handsome man, with captivating blue eyes, rescues Rebecca from her out-of-control coach.

Devon, an heir to one of the oldest, most prestigious titles in England, figures prominently in Rebecca's dreams for the next four years and beyond.

Four years after the rescue from her out-of-control coach, Devon and Rebecca meet again. It is at the Grand Masquerade Ball celebrating his mother's fiftieth birthday. Devon once again lays eyes upon Rebecca. There is a spark of attraction between them, potent and exhilarating.

Rebecca and her Aunt Grace had fled Rebecca's father’s house under the cover of darkness, like two thieves making their escape. Rebecca's father intended to marry her off to their neighbor, Mr. Maximilian Rushton, who is a bully and a tyrant, Rebecca wouldn’t become his wife -not in a thousand years.

Devon returns, the morning of the ball, from a three year journey to America. Upon returning home, he finds his father has gone mad and believes the family to be under a curse. The Duke of Pembroke believes the next generation must begin before winter and has given his four sons until Christmastime to marry or be disinherited.

Devon asks Rebecca to be his wife. Rebecca fears her dream of being Devon's wife will be cast into oblivion by Maximilian Rushton, who has ulterior motives for wanting to marry her, and her father's long ago buried secret.