When Letitia “Letty” Alsworthy discovers that her older sister, the stunning Mary, is about to elope with her admirer, Lord Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe, she is determined to stop it. Their family is in dire financial straits as it is, the scandal of an elopement would be devastating for them. Unfortunately, Letty finds herself whisked away by the crabby coachman, and in the arms of the besotted Geoffrey before she’s able to stop anything at all. Add to the fact that some of Geoff’s friends conveniently happen to interrupt them in the middle of the passionate embrace, and the Alsworthy’s suddenly have a very different scandal on their hands. Having been caught compromising his intended’s younger sister, Geoffrey has no choice but to marry her, but he’s not going to be gracious or understanding about it. Luckily, the Pink Carnation needs him to go to Ireland to help intercept a French plot, and he leaves Letty at the family estate after the ceremony, with no explanation.
Letty is mortified that she ended up married to her sister’s suitor, but also angry that she’s not been able to explain herself properly. Mary, Geoffrey and quite a large part of polite society thinks that she’s a scheming minx who plotted the whole thing to snare herself a rich and titled husband. Letty didn’t even want to get married, but she’s certainly not going to let her husband abandon her so soon after the wedding. If the gossips knew, the scandal would be all the greater. So she follows him there, pretending to her fellow travellers that she’s a widow. When she arrives in Dublin, she discovers that her husband appears to be very publicly wooing a vacuous and flighty young blonde, with no care for the new wife he left behind in England. Little does she know that the bimbo is in fact an English spy and that she and Geoff are working together to ensnare the elusive French spy, the Black Tulip. Will Letty’s appearance in the midst of their operation ruin everything? Will Geoffrey ever learn the truth about his bride, and forgive her for the terrible mix-up? Will Letty discover that perhaps she prefers Geoff’s dashing cousin or perhaps the coldly elegant Lord Vaughn?
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