“I do not regard myself as the cheese in the parson’s mousetrap.” Mr. Delaney Deverell on marriage.

Delaney Deverell is charming, handsome and content to be unwed. He has declared himself immune to the wiles of women, unlike his friends Charles and Lucius, who have recently begun happy marriages. Dev admits to one “obsession”, but she remains a silent onlooker, and he’s happy to have it that way. Until a vicious crime deposits a woman on his doorstep—and his life turns upside down.

Miss Léonie Girard has a massive lump on her head and is missing a chunk of her recent past. She knows her life is in danger, but has no idea why and that is unsettling, even for a woman with her well-developed self-control. She learned to maintain her calm façade while traversing the courts and political centers of Europe with her diplomat father. Finding Delaney Deverell is a coincidence helped along by a stroke of luck. But seeing herself in a portrait on his wall is something else again…

Together they must solve a dangerous puzzle, travel the countryside, take to the high seas, play with boxes, and face a deadly threat. All while trying to understand why it is that each of them finds their attitudes changing—as passion takes control.