Diana Tilney hates the very idea of marriage?married women are virtually owned by their husbands and have no freedom. But when her sister and brother-in-law die and leave their daughters in Diana's care, Ned Faulkes, the new earl, needs her with them, in Swanstead, their palatial home.

For her nieces' sake, Diana agrees to a marriage of convenience. Ned swears he doesn't want an heir, and that it will be a marriage in name only. He's being honest: his first wife died in childbirth and he never wants to put a woman in that position again.

A woman who rejects marriage, a man who rejects intimacy...can they trust each other enough to make a real marriage together?