This first book in the Hartley family saga is the story of the arranged marriage between Natalie Pembroke of Virginia and Adam Hebdon, sixth Duke of Lonsworth. When Natalie's mother dies in childbirth her father, the heartless Augustus Pembroke, deposits her with his neighbors, Henry and Bertha Hartley. There she shares an idyllic, if boisterous, childhood with the Hartley's seven sons eventually falling in love with the eldest son, Peter. However, before Peter has the opportunity to ask for her hand, her father packs her off to London to marry a man she most definately does not want! The feeling is mutual. Adam considers Natalie, a girl he has never seen, to be a most unsuitable bride for a man in his position. More importantly, Adam has been coerced into the marriage by Augustus Pembroke's nefarious scheming of which Natalie is unaware. Adam, however, believes otherwise and in his study immediately after the wedding sets down a series of harsh rules Natalie knows she must obey or suffer the consequences. In spite of the rules, the ache in her heart for life and the man she had to leave behind she faces her future with courage, tenacity and ingenuity. Time finds the rules being discarded one by one as Adam comes to admire and respect his wife, and regardless of his belief that she is in cohorts with her father reluctantly finds himself falling in love with her. For Nataiei it is the same. Adam is not the cruel man she thought him to be and thought they suffer some grave misunderstandings she falls in love with him. It takes a twist of fate before they learn the truth that allows them to look forward to a happy future together.