Elena Wilson, the Dowager Countess of Dryden was forced into a marriage with an old man when she was barely out of the schoolroom. Now, at five and twenty, and a widow free from the confines of marriage, and mourning, she wants to live her life as an independent woman. She has no desire to marry, and she definitely doesn't want to be in any sort of relationship.

A lover though? That has a possibility. As long as the potential gentleman understands that it is for one night, and one night alone.

Theodore Jones, the Earl of Northfield has loved Elena for years... They had even professed love for each other before she was forced to marry the man her father had chosen for her. He has never loved another, and cannot see any other woman as his wife. He'll do anything to have her, but he refuses to believe it can only be for one night.

At a holiday Christmas party they come together. That one night is far more than Elena had bargained for, and she fears that her heart isn't as dead as she once believed. Can she truly trust Theodore with her heart, and love him fully again, or will she regret ever opening herself up to the possibility of devastating pain.