Alexandria de Sousa’s family tree includes queens and empresses of the Austrian and Portuguese courts, so the noblewoman is definitely not amused when, during a royal wedding in 1822 , Kol McEwan mistakes her for a servant girl and insults the entire country of Portugal. However, as she fends off a boorish cousin’s efforts to woo and wed her, she realizes Kol was just trying to flirt. She finds herself drawn to the rough Scotsman, who can claim his own royal bloodlines. However, to keep those bloodlines pure, Kol’s mother wants to halt the romance: Alexandria, the woman Kol desires, has African as well as European bloodlines.