Throughout their long engagement, James Camplyon, Earl of Somerset, has fantasized about Patience Hadley Mims' silken skin and voluptuous curves. He expects his witty, beautiful bride to be timid on their wedding night. But Patience is far more than shy. She's terrified.James presents his reluctant bride with a box of risque novels, ordering her to choose a passage each night for them to act out. Despite her fears, Patience thinks being bound and blindfolded will undo the hard-learned lessons of a lifetime. But she doesn't count on her husband's patient resolve to strip away the dark secrets threatening to prevent her from giving herself to him completely.