Unless Philip, Lord Pemberton, could arrange a six-month marriage he would lose his inheritance. But how could he find a respectable young lady to go along with such a scheme? Coincidentally, Madeline Delaware was desperate to escape from her dissolute uncle, so what better solution could there be? But the sixth-month marriage turned out to be far from the peaceful interlude that she had envisaged. Who was the beautiful Miss Letitia Bligh, and was she really as well disposed towards Madeline as she seemed? What lay behind the mysterious break-in at Philip's London home? Why was his coach attacked as he and Madeline travelled to his Yorkshire estate? And why, when the marriage was simply a convenient arrangement, did Madeline find it so difficult to think of its end?