After being kidnapped, shrewd business woman Tess McLeod awakens in a brothel room ready to be sold at a "virgin auction." She refuses to comply with the brothel, especially when that leaves her inheritance, McLeod Shipping, in the hands of her abductor and late father's business partner, "Mad" Jack Anderson.
To avoid a scandal, Duke William Knightly of Devenleigh, the head of Riverlark Shipping, follows his frivolous, carefree brothers to the brothel auction to take them home. He doesn't plan to make a purchase, but when Tess is brought to the dais, his conscience tells him to save her. But it's only after he pays for her that he discovers the mysterious woman is a threat to everything he knows, including his heart.