Left penniless and alone after her parents' deaths, beautiful young Alina Langley is desperate to earn some money when, out of the blue, her friend Denise Sedgewick arrives from London. Now a famous Society Beauty she has come to ask Alina for help. The man Denise loves has gone to Rome, upset after Denise deliberately made him jealous, and Denise is desperate to follow and win him back. Her plan is to travel with her cousin Lord Teverton, who is on a special mission for the Prime Minister - but her father won't let her go without a proper chaperon. Since there is no one else she can trust she persuades Alina to pretend to be her mother, Lady Langley. Dressed as a sophisticated woman of nearly forty, Alina meets the unfriendly but handsome Lord Teverton, who is instantly entranced by her. The trouble is, so is the persistently amorous Prince Alberto Borghese. And when Lord Teverton comes not once but twice to her rescue, Alina realises she has fallen in love with him - but how can she explain that she is not the woman of the world she pretend to be but a simple girl who has never before been kissed?