Orphaned as a child, Dani grew up on the streets of London as a pickpocket. One night, she is caught by the handsome libertine she is attempting to rob. Impressed by her skills, Jeremy Malory decides to hire Dani to steal back jewels he lost in a card game. To do so would break one of her gang leader's cardinal rules, but Jeremy gives her no choice in the matter. Upon returning to her gang after completing the task, Dani is banished - alone and without money - to London's cruel streets.
Desperate to build a new life for herself, Dani turns to Jeremy Malory, demanding that he give her a job. Jeremy wants Dani to be his mistress, but she clings to her dream of becoming respectable. Confident he will succeed in seducing her, Jeremy hires her as an upstairs maid, where she blossoms under the tutelage of Jeremy and his housekeeper. Even as the attraction between them intensifies, Dani keeps her distance, for Jeremy is not the marrying kind.
Only after Jeremy's cousin begs her to help him avoid the manipulations of another young lady does Dani relent, attending a ball with Jeremy and posing as his new love interest. But several people at the ball remark on how familiar Dani looks, raising the question of her true identity and threatening not only Dani's chances of loving Jeremy Malory, but her life.
