In a desperate attempt to get away from her abuse relatives and the prospect of a forced marriage, Frances hides in the coach of the Marquis of Aldeborough. The drunken Marquis discovers the girl and mistakes her for a common kitchen wench. In his inebriated state, he makes advances towards her without the thought of any reprecussions. In the morning he is shocked to discover the girl is in fact a gentlewomen whom he unfortunately compromised by bringing her to his home. Frances wants nothing but to get to her relatives in London and beg for their assistance, certainly not to stay here with the Marquis and accept his ludicris marriage proposal. The Marquis sees no other option, he unwilling compromised the girl by having her unchaperoned in his presence for the night and will not besmirch his honor. Thus the only possible conclusion is marriage. Frances is vehemently against this and after many agruements and an attempted escape does she resign to her fate of marriage to the Marquis.
This is only the first fifty pages, what follows involves a story of lies, attempted murder, jealously (LOTS!), betrayal and many interesting twists and turns.
I liked this book, just didn't love it. I just couldn't love the Marquis or Frances for that matter. Their relationship was a bit cold and stayed that way till almost the very end. I actually would have rated the book 3 stars if not for the last 20 pages. The way they acted towards eachother gave me no indication that they were actually in love other than to state the fact in their own minds. Many of the actions of the H/H were not ones that one would ascribe to two people who were in love. They totally neglected to take into account on how the other party would interpret their actions. The loves scenes were lacking as well and I don't mean in frequency. They weren't described in detail enough and mostly lacked female satisfaction (this doesn't make any sense since the Marqius is supposed to be know as a great lover).
Overall, I recommend the book. Not a great one, but worth reading.