There really were times when being a petite well-bred lady was positively tedious.

Charlotte Everslea, dedicated paranormal artefact hunter, was in need of a little help to retrieve a dangerously powerful book. Not to mention, to rescue some children, thwart a Machiavellian nemesis and evade Napoleon's Portuguese army. What she didn't need was an unbiddable, overprotective, stormy-eyed Redcoat, even if he was sent by fate.

Being both a gentleman and a soldier was sometimes most inconvenient.

Colonel Maximillian Bladewood was used to giving orders and having them obeyed both on and off the battlefield. But the petite golden-haired hoyden, to whose accidental intervention he owed his life, challenged both his authority and his sanity. Regardless, his duty was clear. Even if it included protecting a stubbornly obsessed innocent from the dangers of a war.

Cross-purposed and with the civilised world at stake, fate throws down another challenge - hope for love. All it will cost them are the vows they have each sworn to keep.