Despite being beautiful and wealthy, Lady Susanna Macalister's marriage prospects are rather lacking. Unwilling to let an opportunity pass her by, she decides a loveless marriage is better than spinsterhood, as it will allow her to continue her charities. The life of Ian Carlisle, the Earl of Westcott, has been overshadowed by darkness and guilt for the past decade. Having abandoned his family when he was eighteen, Ian's position within a secret division of the government has provided him an escape from the guilt he feels over the death of his sister. When the Earl's horse almost tramples Susanna in the middle of Hyde Park, Ian embraces the chance encounter as a possibility for redemption, for Susanna's soon-to-be fiance is the man Ian holds responsible for the death of his sister. Can this damaged lord hope to absolve the guilt he feels for failing his beloved sister by saving this vibrant, and unsuspecting lady from a similar fate? And will this charity-minded well-bred lady, who is not the perfectly bound book as Ian assumes, be willing to take a chance on the unstable earl, when something more dignified and permanent is well within reach?