2High-stakes gambler Allan Rutledge backs the wrong horse at Epsom and has to take the shabby mail coach back to London. At the next stop, he encounters an uncommonly pretty girl, traveling alone. Allan helps her aboard, engages her in conversation, and is amused by her attitudes. Marissa Barrington, anxious and uncertain, reveals she has taken a huge gamble and run away from home to escape an unwanted suitor, the Duke of Ludlow. She hopes to take refuge with an aunt, but in London, the aunt cannot be found. Allan receives startling news, the duke threatens, and Allan and Marissa begin a harried journey across the countryside to evade him. Romance develops, but can either of them take the risk?