Life is richer than he expected. John Forsythe abandons London for the furthest reaches of England after a series of betrayals leave him with the shame of a very public divorce, a poor opinion of Society ladies and a heart armored against love. Protected from intruders by his servants, the Thornes, he spends his days with his daughter and in a workshop where he makes clockwork automata. Life is better than she deserves. Pauline Turner has reformed in the years since she joined in her mother’s attempts to destroy her step-brother. Eschewing social position and forgetting dreams of marriage and her own home, she is content with space to breed roses and her status as a favorite sister and aunt. A kiss awakens them… When a storm forces Pauline to defy John's ban on visitors, she and John each strike a chord in the other. Though they awaken to the possibility of love, they each have their own lives. … but the trials that follow tear them apart When his ex-wife’s husband steals John’s beloved daughter, Pauline steps in to steal her back. The journey that follows takes them across the sea to Paris and into the depths of their hearts.