Stranded on the island of Corfu at the end of the war, Alessa has no choice but to support herself the best way she can – after all, her aristocratic relatives have disowned her because of her father’s marriage to a French wife. So the arrival of Chance, Earl of Blakeney, set on reuniting her with them is unwelcome, although his kisses are not. Alessa finds him managing, conventional and regrettably desirable and it takes an encounter with pirates to make her realise that her suitor has hidden depths.