Isabella Hathaway has had the most awful year; her father committed suicide after gaming away the family fortune, her brother has been lost in the ongoing skirmishes with Bonaparte and her fiance jilted her. Little wonder her spirit is bruised. To provide for her two sisters, she must find a suitable husband, no easy thing when she has been living under a cloud of scandal.When Isabella is kidnapped from a masquerade ball, she thinks she is surely ruined. But that is before she comes to know the scatty, good natured Earl of Stornley and his devilishly handsome best friend, Harry Carstairs. Isabella and Stornely hatch a plan that will get her out of trouble and land him the girl of his dreams. With Harry's far from willing help, Isabella makes plans to secure a respectable match and put her problems behind her. She is sure it will all go just as she plans - if she can avoid the lure of the the wonderfully womanizing Mr. Carstairs who makes it clear he is not in need of a wife, although not at all adverse to getting to know Isabella a lot more intimately.