I hate the thought of leaving Papa, but my stepmother gives me no choice.' The beautiful Anthea Preston has had much to contend with in her life. Her fiancé jilts her and then her beloved Mama dies of a sudden illness.

But her father does not remain a widower for long. When Anthea goes off on a Grand Tour, she returns home to London to find he has married again and her new stepmother cannot wait to marry her off to the first rich man she encounters.

But then a chance meeting with the young and wilful Lady Linette Hayworth brings Anthea the chance to escape from her dreadful situation and a new life. However, her handsome new employer - the Earl of Hayworth - is not all he seems. A dark secret lurks in his past that not even his daughter knows about.

A journey to Naples sees Anthea on a voyage of discovery only to end in near disaster when her life is unexpectedly threatened after Linette falls in love with an Italian artist.

How Anthea herself finds love and how the mysterious past of the Earl catches up with him is all told in this unusual romantic novel by BARBARA CARTLAND.