Countess Arabella Ashford meets a watery grave when her spendthrift husband Edward, his scheming lover Cecilia, and his tyrannical mother conspire to drown her for her ancestral inheritance. Miraculously awakening before the fatal deed occurs, Arabella plays the compliant, naive spouse to disarm her domestic enemies while preparing their legal destruction.
Rather than fighting for immediate control, Arabella willingly transfers seemingly valuable estate deeds loaded with concealed trust obligations and pending debts. She forms a discreet alliance with the powerful Duke Alexander to secure irrefutable paternity evidence and financial audits. Arabella must keep her treacherous household completely blind to the trap until bailiffs arrive to seize their aristocratic titles.
