Reid Kennard is a ruthless financier used to buying and selling stocks, shares and priceless artifacts. But now Reid has his eye on a very different acquisition--Francesca Turner.

Left destitute by her father's recent death, Francesca had walked into Reid's bank looking to extend her overdraft rather than for a marriage proposal! As Fran needs money and Reid needs a wife, he proposes the perfect barter: he'll rescue her and her family if she'll agree to marry him! But in this marriage of convenience can Fran ever be anything more than a bartered bride?