Seven years after Louisa banished him to India for recklessly kissing her. Now Simon returns to England and he has no intention of becoming involved with Louisa again, until the king suggests that marrying Louisa might help win Simon a nomination as England's next prime minister. As the leader of the London Ladies Society, Louisa has been bedeviling the government for prison reform, but if Simon were to marry her, he could limit the scope of her group's work.