Good manners may have demanded that the unattached Marquis of Kearny and Mallory undertake a trip to the country at his cousin's request, but something far more compelling requires him to remain. A wrong turn leads him directly into danger - and into the most unsettling conviction that his stalwart rescuer, Lady Hannah Thorne, is destined to be the one an only woman he will ever love. That is, if he survives long enough to get to know her, of course, which hardly seems likely with wild dogs on his heels and news of a recent murder that has rocked the peaceful village...Quite content without a husband, Hannah is taken aback when she discovers that the stranger she rescued from Little Mynd moor is the very paragon of manly virtues her best friend, Anne, has been extolling. Something about this Mallory id disturbing - or is that desirable? As their mutual friends insist on throwing them together, Hannah is surprised to realise that her feelings for Mal just may be the romantic sort. But before she can decide if this perfect gentleman will make the perfect husband, she must deduce who is trying to kill him...