Free to follow her heart...just not to her husband! Deborah needs a husband to protect her from the scandal breaking over her head; Christopher Halland, a radical and ambitious member of parliament, needs a wife to get at his fortune and Gosmere Hall. It is the perfect marriage of convenience. Or is it? She should have been warned off by the fury in his eyes on their first encounter when he almost rode over her. And by the whispered rumors of his women and loose living. Instead, she thrives as the lady of Gosmere Hall and her calm soothes her volatile husband throughout quarrels with his grandfather, and even when his black-sheep cousin, accused of murder, turns up wounded in the cellar. However, falling in love was not part of their agreement - at least not with each other - and they have to overcome many misunderstandings before happiness is within their reach. Only then, her scandal rears its ugly head once more, and the arrival of the reptilian Lord Barden threatens to ruin everything, and even take Deborah's life.