Road trips with tortured dukes may lead to flaming hearts.

Nathaniel Blackwell was born to be a duke. However, his mother ran away from his father and raised him in America. Now the Duke of Rivenhall, he has returned to England and a life foreign to him. But being an outsider is a minor irritation compared to his biggest problem: the failing textile mill and the unionizing women workers his father left behind. It’s bleeding the estate dry, and Nathaniel must get rid of the factory to save the dukedom and his tenants from financial ruin. Unfortunately, no one wants to buy a failing business.

The Honeyfield family, infamous for their fatuous behavior, is low on funds. Daughter Julia has offered to get a job, shocking her relatives. When her baron father loses a wager with the Duke of Rivenhall, the Honeyfields become stuck with a failing factory. Loose ends must be tied up between the duke and the Honeyfields at the Manchester mill. The baron gives in to Julia’s most unusual request to work and sends her off with the duke as the family representative for mill business.

Julia does not care for the duke. She finds him standoffish and dour. And after witnessing the wild and unchaperoned Julia's antics at a ball, Nathaniel finds her most ridiculous. When Julia discovers the duke still owns the land the mill sits upon, they gleefully become enemies as they both aim to stick their half of the business on the other. Despite this, an unwanted attraction grows during a rocky road trip they’re forced to take together. But whoever ends up with the mill in the end will be financially ruined for life, which isn't exactly conducive to a happily ever after.