When Jill marries Amandios Doxaros, she does it only to make his mother happy in her final years—and to keep him from marrying the woman he truly wanted. Both agree that theirs would be a marriage in name only, to be dissolved at his mother's death.

Jill never meant to fall desperately in love with Amandios; but her heart had other plans. Soon she must decide whether to try to win his affections for herself—or watch him marry someone else.