After the death of her father, Adriana Bancroft sets off to find her twin brother, Tate, missing in action in Portugal during the Napoleonic War. Disguising herself as a boy, she finds a position taking care of an unhappy young child - cousin and heir to Sir Nicholas Laidley. This attractive gentleman's enjoyment of "Adrian's" company is surpassed only by his disdain for women, especially the beauty who jilted him as a young man. But Laidley is Adriana's only source of information about her missing brother, so how can she destroy their "friendship" by revealing her true identity? And how can she keep from falling in love with him?