Weary of war and diplomatic wandering, Leander Knollis, Earl of Charrington, wants a home, a wife, and a good old-fashioned English Christmas. As he seems unable to fall in love, however, he will only consider a marriage of convenience to a sensible woman. He is beginning to despair when he encounters the perfect candidate, a woman so devoted to her late husband's memory that no one thinks she could ever love again. Judith Rossiter is in no position to turn down the astonishing proposal, but it worries her. Why would an earl, and a most attractive one at that, offer marriage to an impoverished widow with two young children? At least his main condition should be easy enough to fulfil. After the folly of Judith's first marriage, a sensible rather than a sentimental union is exactly what she wants. Or so she believes when she says her vows...