Archaeologist Miles Kennestone, Lord St. Leger, is spending his summer at Lowery Park, home to the best-preserved Roman villa in England. During a past stay, his host's two husband-hunting daughters continually disrupted his work. Now he's leery of a third daughter, the only one left at home, who professes to be an archaeologist. Wary of being sought after for his title and money, he has a policy of avoiding marriageable women. While Melpomene Lowery intrigues him both physically and intellectually, he fears she is just a more subtle seductress than her sisters.

Indulged by her widowed archaeologist father, Mellie Lowery has adopted his field and vows to earn respect in the science. Now she believes she's onto an important find, but her family wants her to drop her work for a London debut. Her father allows her two weeks to finish her project but insists she get help from Lord St. Leger, a man who treats her with arrogance. As the two of them work together, she senses she's winning him over, and their shared love of antiquities attracts her to him. For the first time she's met someone she might like for a suitor, but she has to go away--and he says it's for the best.