Simon, Lord Marby needs a wife. Having located his missing nephew at the orphanage in Worthington, he desperately wishes to atone for the mission which caused the death of the boy's father. Yet each step into society is greeted with fear and distrust for the scarred visage and reputation which marks him as the Beast of Worthington. Miss Marie Cunningham has been waiting for her handsome knight on white steed. After the happy marriages of her three friends, surely it is her turn. When young Peter finds her she is happy to discover his successful adoption but does he truly ask her to propose marriage to the dread lord of her youth? A jaded, scarred lord and a fanciful miss could hardly be the perfect match, but maybe there's more than meets the eye when trouble invades the estate and their very lives are threatened with Simon's sordid past.