He offered her protection. She endangered his heart.
1956 England. Although eighteen-year-old poverty-stricken Katie Clarke believes in storybook love, she caves to parental pressure and agrees to wed a wealthy miscreant. Before her nuptials, handsome, sworn-bachelor Dane Wellington offers a secret marriage without consummation, and an annulment when she turns twenty-one.
Katie soon learns that her irresistible husband is a treasure with a heart of gold. Over time, their deep connection erupts into flaming desire, fueled by frequent nighttime spooning.
Transforming into a wife Dane never wanted and didn't know he needed, Katie refuses to settle for consummation. She wants the fairytale—him begging on bended knee.
Dane, unable to trust women and terrified of love, wants her more than his next breath. He loves her joie de vivre and her heart, but he can't bring himself to say those three bloody words.