For the Duke of Cosway, it was a marriage of convenience. For his bride, it was anything but...Isidore has waited for many long, frustrating years for her mysterious husband to return from exploring the world. They were married by proxy when she was just a child, but now she's fully grown and yearns for nothing more than for her Duke to return. Until he does come back. And he is not what she expected. At all. Not only does he refuse to conform to any of society's norms: he won't powder his hair, has little regard for cravats, and seems frighteningly keen on running around the countryside in nothing but short trousers. But - more shocking than any other revelation - he reveals that he is a virgin. There is an undeniable attraction though, and while Isidore tries to establish whether this Duke was actually worth waiting for, Cosway himself begins to discover that there may be more adventures in marriage than in all of the rest of the world...