When shy Miss Eliza Balfour married the austere Earl of Somerset, twenty years her senior, it was the match of the season. But ten years later, Eliza is widowed. And at eight and twenty years, she is suddenly left titled, rich, and, for the first time in her life, utterly in control of her own future. After years of behaving according to everyone else's rules, Eliza has resolved, at last, to do as she wants. Eliza is forced to confront the fact that freedom comes with consequences. But it also brings unexpected opportunities.