An ancient Scottish castle, a ghost and a treasure . . .

The last thing Lucy Stillwater wants to do is travel to Scotland with her disagreeable aunt. She is desperate to stay at home in Berkshire near Joshua Parris, the man she loves, providing opportunities for him to fall in love with her. But she soon finds herself in a carriage on an isolated, rutted road in southern Scotland during a violent storm. When their carriage overturns, her unlikely rescuer is the surly Scottish marquess she met days before, who takes her and her injured relations to his nearby home - Craigmuir Castle. While exploring his ancient home, she discovers a truth she had thought to avoid; a ghost with a message; and the love of an impossible Scotsman.

Ian Munro, Marquess Broxburn, has come to Craigmuir Castle for the sole purpose of dealing with the disasters created by his now-incompetent father, the Duke of Craigmuir. The ducal estates are going to ruin, the duke is deeply in debt, and the tile-making business that keeps his tenants fed is floundering. Even worse, when the duke divulges a long-held secret about Ian's past, the world as Ian knows it crumbles under his feet. But a beautiful distraction arrives in the midst of all his turmoil. Lucy Stillwater is the balm that soothes the ache in Ian's soul, but he cannot imagine anything worse than subjecting her to the skeletons in his closet.

Except for living without her.