Sylvie, Marchioness of Bartlebyrne, has been a widow for much of her adult life. Her grown son is away at school, leaving Sylvie in charge of the family estate, The Byrne. She offers the vacant living in the village to the son of one of her late husband's friends. The new vicar, Mr. Edmund James, is twenty-six, handsome and, his family hopes, a reformed rake. Sylvie falls under the young man's spell at first sight, but is ashamed by her desires — she's so much older than him, how can she be having all these naughty thoughts about what she wants him to do to her, and where, and how often!

Edmund James' family gave him a choice — be ordained and take the living in Byrnham or be cut off and transported for failure to pay his debts. The one thing that makes his new life worth living is Sylvie. He seduces his way into her bed, but can he overcome her worries about their age difference and win her heart?