Widowed Lady Olivia Xavier owns a brewery, which in itself is not considered a societal offense; however, actually running it herself is certainly not the norm for the society of London in 1883. Will Coffin is a cowboy from Colorado visiting London in the hopes of finding some members of his family. He knows his parents died in a fire while he was still very young. He also knows they came from England to America in hopes of a new life without the innumerable social dictates of London.

The two meet when Will interrupts several men from accosting Olivia. Will still holds to the old school of respecting and defending women and tipping his hat as greeting. When Olivia offers money to Will for protecting her, a stranger, Will is offended and declines the money for what he thinks is common courtesy.

After a series of events, Will begins staying in the guest room of Olivia’s home. Of course, they are not alone together; Olivia has a houseful of servants. As time passes the two enter into an agreement: Olivia will help Will find his family in exchange for him helping her to keep running her brewery. A plot is afoot to force her to give up her extremely lucrative business. Will steps in as needed to be her protector.

A mutual attraction slowly develops into a touching, sweetly told love story. They both think of it as impossible: she is high in the social strata, and he is just an American cowboy.

Zoe Archer has quite the gift of imagination as well as an original yet classic take on the historical romance genre. The pace is just right, the characters well-developed, and she excels at dangling carrots in front of the reader. A very delightful and satisfying read.