Hidden in a convent in Bonapartist Spain, Dorothea Cannowen seizes her only chance to return to England. When she discovers a stranger, wounded and delirious in the convent garden, she nurses him to health--then begs him to take her back to England with him. But to do so--to preserve Dorothea's reputation--Douglas Matlin counters with a proposal: marry him now, and have the marriage annulled when they reach London.Neither of them can know that the dangers of a journey through enemy territory will bring them closer together, or that that closeness will threaten Matlin's plans and Dorothea's happiness.