Lady Letticia Burke has had designs on the same man - Sir Alex Gaines - since she was sixteen. Unfortunately, not only does he not know she exists, but his wife definitely does exist.
Nearly twenty now, she has turned down everyone who has ever offered for her for one reason or another - made up or not - and, with the changing markets having badly affected their financial wherewithal, her parents can no longer afford to indulge her in endless window shopping for a husband.
So her last prospect - a man who has been interested in her just about as long as she's been ogling Sir Alex.