At 21, the tall, blonde Julia Miller controls her father's conglomerate from London. To advance her into society, a marriage contract has been in force with Lord Richard Allen since they were both small children. Following an accident, Julia's mother is dead and her father is left with only bouts of clarity from a head injury. Julia and Richard, having a fierce dislike for one another from the forced betrothal, impose various inflictions upon each other until Richard, at 17, takes matters into his own hands and flees England for the Caribbean as a pirate.

After 11 years, Richard returns to England and encounters a beautiful young lady of interest only to discover she is his fiancée all grown up. Scheming together to nullify their betrothal, Julia and Richard decide to steal the contract. Richard's father, intent on pursuing their marriage to fill his own coffers, foils Richard and Julia yet again. Neither Richard nor Julia expects to feel the shifting from hate to love as they balk against being yet again controlled by his father.

As usual, Johanna Lindsey has created another terrific story. Her characters are colorful and lively. The amusing banter between Julia and Richard is creative, as is the storyline. The author has a unique gift for creating a story that will hold the interest and keep the characters alive and feisty so that it is impossible to keep from turning the pages until that last one is read. I have been reading her novels for years and she manages to keep each novel fresh with a new plot and exciting characters.