After her father's scandal leaves Lady Ella and her young brother penniless on the streets of Edinburg and her brother stripped of his title, Ella survives by washing clothes. Efforts to keep her young brother out of the local street thugs’ clutches fail miserably, and she fears he is headed for prison. But the evening he steals a watch from The Demon Earl puts them at the earl’s mercy in ways she never imagined possible. Ashton Strachan, Earl of Dundee, has lived his life under the shadow that earned him the nickname The Demon Earl, murderer of his own father. Desperate to settle the matter of his inheritance, he agrees to his grandmother’s dictate that he marry. Sir Stirling James proposes a marriage of convenience. Only, the bride comes with a scandal even greater than that of The Demon Earl. Worse, Ashton finds that being married to an innocent temptress isn’t convenient at all.