Evan Somerset is on a quest to find a unique vase with a thunderbolt painted on it. He sees it in a small French restaurant in London. Brienne LeClerc, the owner, isn’t interested in selling the family heirloom—the only thing, besides Brienne, that her grandmother brought from France while escaping the French Revolution. No matter how much of a charming scoundrel Evan is, she won’t budge. That decision leads to disaster.

In the wake of the destruction of everything she has worked on, Evan learns an astounding truth. Brienne is the daughter of a French duke, Marc-Michel Levesque, who died on the guillotine. If she still had the vase, she could prove that and regain the family’s estates in France. Not telling him that she does, Brienne sets off to learn the truth. She realizes how much she needs Evan by her side and in her arms as her family’s past comes back to haunt her. She can only hope that it is not too late to be honest with him about the vase . . . and about how much she has come to love him.