She had a long way to go from the wedding to becoming a wife. When Lady Anne Sinclair vowed to marry before her spoiled beauty of a sister, she had no idea the "anyone" would be the Marquess of Torrance. Long the darling of the ton-and considered quite the confirmed bachelor-he succumbed to Annie's charms and, almost magically, made her his wife. But Annie's lifelong battle for attention had ill-prepared her for married life. In a tipsy reverie on her wedding night, she blurted out her real reason for marrying the Marquess, and her husband's formidable pride shut the door on any further communication. Only a crisis of major proportions could bring the headstrong newlyweds together. And no less than the chancellor of the exchequer, with sinister political ambitions known only to himself, embroiled Annie in a dangerous plot that taught her the truth about her wifely sentiments.