A treasonable letter. Attempted blackmail. Can a secret marriage save the day? Duncan, the Earl of Callander, loves his beautiful neighbour Lady Cairstine McColl but has held back from proposing until she has enjoyed her debut in Edinburgh. However, matters are taken out of his control when Cairstine discovers a plot to blackmail her father with her hand in marriage demanded as the ransom price. A daring plan is hatched. To protect Cairstine, she and Duncan will wed under Scottish law, then travel to England incognito to find and destroy a letter that could see her father accused of treason and the family ruined. But all is not straightforward once they arrive in Corbridge. They must hide the passion they feel for each other from the blackmailer, and worse, there may not be just one blackmailer, but two.