Beautiful, young, impoverished Parson? s daughter, Hermia Brooke, ishappy with her simple country life, despite being shunned by herwealthy uncle the Earl of Millbrooke and her cousin, the spoilt andselfish Marilyn. In a chance encounter with a raffishly handsomegentleman, whom she decides resembles the Devil himself, shenevertheless helps him with a stone stuck in his horse? s hoof. Rewarded with a golden guinea and a shocking kiss, Hermia findsher world turned topsy turvy when she meets the mysterious strangeronce more at the behest of Marilyn, who is determined to trap this? Devil? ? namely the Marquis of Deverille ? into marriage. Just as Hermia? s innocent heart warms to the gentler side of this hard-bitten aristocrat and he falls under her guileless spell, the Marquis isembroiled in a murderous plot and Hermia must fight for his life, even as all hope of the love she dreams about for herself seems lost.
