Too big and too ordinary to be strictly fashionable, Lady Frances Molesworth has always survived in the fringes of society. She spends her days with spinsters and matrons and is content that this is all her life will ever be. When her neighbour Lord Daniel Fitzwilliam suddenly offers her marriage to appease his social obligations, Frances knows she should say "yes". The Honourable Hugh Fitzwilliam, a Captain of the British army, returns from the Peninsula war just in time to attend the wedding of his brother Daniel to Frances, his childhood best friend. Or at least, that is what is meant to happen. Instead, the bridegroom goes missing, leaving instructions for Hugh to become both the heir and the new bridegroom. Frances wants to know why Daniel has left. Hugh refuses to let his brother’s actions hurt his friend. And the two sudden allies need to discover what exactly they feel about each other.