Lady Emily Southwell and her three friends, Priscilla Tate and Daphne and Ariadne Courdebas, are determined that someday the world will speak in reverent tones of the year they made their debuts in London Society. Lady Emily is equally determined to take her rightful place among the famous artists of the Royal Society for the Beaux Arts.
That is, until her longtime betrothed Lord Robert Townsend declares his intent to marry her and whisk her off into the countryside, immediately. What can the fellow be thinking! And why is handsome Bow Street Runner Jamie Cropper dogging Lord Robert's steps, and Emily's? It's up to Lady Emily to use her art to uncover artifice and discover whether Lord Robert has something more up his sleeve than a nicely muscled arm. Along the way, a duke's daughter might just form a perilous passion for a most unlikely suitor.