Elliot Armstrong, the marquis of Rannoch, is tall, dark, handsome and jaded. Too many years have passed since Rannoch was a naive Scottish lad, whose provincial ways left him vulnerable to the cruelties of the Ton. Vengeance has become the marquis's calling card and when he sets off to get it to the wilds of Essex in pursuit of an old paramour he stumbles upon an isolated country estate which overflows with warmth, love, and innocence, things completely foreign to him.
Rannoch quickly tumbles head over heels in lust, with Evangeline van Artevalde, a complex and passionate Flemish artist who lives with her boisterous family at the estate. Evangeline is first intrigued, and soon inspired, by her reticent guest, whom her housekeeper has unwittingly confused with a customer who was expected for a portrait sitting. In this twisted tale of mistaken identity, neither Rannoch or Evangeline is completely honest about who they are, or how they feel yet the passion between them is undeniable.
