Childhood sweethearts Desmond Bretton and Anna Browning defy their powerful fathers and elope to Gretna Green when Anna is told she will marry a viscount old enough to be her grandfather. Caught before they cross the Scottish border, Dez is shipped off to the army, where he learns of Anna’s suicide. Though a dozen years pass, Dez still loves the girl who always held his heart. Though everyone is told Anna died, her father places his daughter in a madhouse to punish her for her rebellious behavior. Anna retreats inside herself to a world of her own making in order to cling to her sanity. Dez, her lost love, is a huge part of that perfect world.
When Dez becomes the Earl of Torrington, he discovers Anna is still alive and with her cousin’s help, they free her from Gollingham Asylum. Dez knows the girl he loves still lingers within Anna and is determined to liberate her, as well as other women imprisoned at the madhouse. Can Dez save the sanity of the woman he loves—or will Anna be lost to him forever?