Dry-eyed nobleman embraced by Hardy heroine (8)
I believe the answer is:
tearless
'dry-eyed' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'nobleman embraced by hardy heroine' is the wordplay.
'nobleman' becomes 'earl' (member of the nobility).
'embraced by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hardy heroine' becomes 'tess' (in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy novel).
'earl' inserted into 'tess' is 'TEARLESS'.
(Other definitions for tearless that I've seen before include "Dry" , "betraying no emotion" , "stiff upper lip" , "without displaying sorrow" .)