The illegitimate child of runaway lovers, lovely young Areta is condemned after her parents' to life in the shadow of her beloved and equally beautiful cousin Lady Millicent… Despised by her aunt and uncle as a "bastard child", she's fated never to be a débutante like Millicent, never to attend glamorous Society balls… and never to marry…

Unless it's as part of her plan to save Millicent from a cynically arranged marriage to the Duke of Kerncliffe! After all, the two girls have always looked so very much alike – how hard can it be? But even she weaves her web of deceit, Areta dreads what will happen when the Duke discovers he's married the Wrong Duchess.