When the handsome, rakish Earl of Hawthorne buys the charming house across the back garden from his town home, he never expects the lovely lady he installs there to ensnare him completely. After Lady Anne Keighley marries the earl, it seems a shame to leave the house empty, so she offers it to her childhood friend Felicity Mercer, who discovers that the earl's gorgeous cousin is precisely the man she's been waiting for. Finally, feisty Georgiana Baxter moves into the house to escape an arranged marriage, and encounters the earl's friend Lord Julian Silsby late one night in the back garden. The handsome soldier is more than willing to give her the lessons she asks for.