They say the pleasure of love lasts a moment and the pain of love lasts forever. The Honourable Dilianna Wescott could well believe the later. She has loved Lord Nicholas, the Marquis of Rushton, now a widowed misogamist, since she was in leading strings. So when he asks her to play the role of his inamorata for a Season to keep matchmaking mamas and milk-toast chits at bay, she agrees, but only on the condition that he grant her a favor in return.

But soon, circumstances beyond their customary control force both of them to consider carrying the marriage banns, either with each other or another, and quickly. Nicholas and Dilly are doggedly determined to dodge duty, but forces beyond their ken conspire to cripple their burgeoning relationship.

So begins the knotty entanglement of temptations, trials, and triumph. Could Darling Dilly's final favor be their saving grace, proving to them once and for all that the pleasure of love can truly last a lifetime?