Housemaid Anne Webster will stop at nothing to save her family from their dire circumstances. Even if it means accepting the proposal of the roguish Ruel Chouteau, Marquess of Blackthorne, who has just returned to England from the Americas under a veil of mystery. Both have their own agendas—she to use his riches, and he to use her lace-making skills—but neither could have dreamed what they would discover on the other side of their scheming.