Blessed with beauty, fortune, and noble birth, Lady Meredith Barrington puzzles the ton by choosing to remain single. Then a roguish bet placed by her younger brothers leads Meredith to impulsively flirt with—and boldly kiss—the handsome, brooding Marquess of Dardington. A threatened scandal results in a hasty wedding. Theirs is a marriage of convenience, and Meredith is determined to maintain her usual independent ways. Then an apparent accident nearly takes her life, and Meredith, shaken, finds herself turning again and again to her husband, for comfort, for reassurance. . .and more. Trevor Morley, Marquess of Dardington, is less than pleased when he's forced to wed, and vows to avoid his lovely wife—no matter how tempting that soul-stirring kiss in the garden. But when the ton is rocked by a string of savage murders, Trevor comes to realize that the killer has targeted Meredith. He ensures that he's always at her side. . .day and night. Their intimacy ignites a fiery passion between them, and both are stunned to discover that what began in rueful obedience to Society's dictates has become a love match. But can Trevor protect the woman he cherishes from deadly harm?