Hurt by a fortune-hunting suitor, artist Maeve Irvine believes her fulfillment in life must come from painting rather than marriage and a family. She moves from Boston to London to live with an aunt and keep her wealth a secret. Her impersonation of a poor relation is so convincing that Adrian, Duke of Ashton, her late cousin's widower, suspects she's after an inheritance currently willed to his daughter. He's charmed by her lively, unconventional manners, but he needs to know whether they're the mark of an adventuress or simply the quirks of an artist. For her part, Maeve can't decide if he's the cold husband she has heard her cousin endured or the feeling man she glimpses when he's with his daughter...and sometimes with her!