Lord Griffin Boscastie has no intention of ending his glorious career as a rakehell now that he has inherited a dukedom. Still, there are responsibilities he must discharge before he resumes his pleasures, ineluding finding a bride and depositing lis incorrigible niece at a relative's academy outside London. It is at this so-very-proper finishing school that flame-haired instructress Harriet Garduer awakens in Griffin emotions so dangerously intoxicating that he must avoid her at ali cost. Yet when Harriet finds work in the townhouse where Griffin resides, her presence tempts him at every turn. Harriet lias survived London's streets far too long to let an arrogant duke woo a bride lie doesn't want when she desires him for herself, and she lias seen too mucli oflife not to recognize a man ripe for redemption. But just as Harriet finds tlie perfect cure for His Lordship's devilish ways, a vindictive enemy intervenes, and tlie duke whom Harriet has plotted to save suddenly becomes her devoted protector.