Jane Austin meets 24, with a female Jack Bauer. She's a fish out of water, but she knows how to kill and she's not afraid to do it. Brett Butler's always been a leader, as a former major in the Earth Marines she's trained for it, but when she arrives on New Commonwealth as her father's, the ambassador, personal assistant, she's going to have to at least try to fit in. Especially if she wants the handsome Lord Stephen Brandon. A highly placed member of the aristocracy, Stephen's every inch a soldier, from his spit-shined boots to the sword he wears on his hip. Dedicated to his job in intelligence, born to be a duke one day, the woman he marries must be gracious, well-versed in etiquette, and fit in with his peers. Everything Brett isn't. But that won't stop her, because even though they've only met, his touch makes her feel something she's never felt before - like a woman, with all the wants and needs she's kept hidden. For Stephen, he's never met a woman like Brett, one that fires a lust and desire deep inside him, and before long, he decides she must be his wife. Nothing less will do. Or get in his way. Including his mother. But neither of them counted on their parents butting in and falling in love, Stephen's grandfather's schemes to get him and Brett together, or on Brett and the old duke being caught up in a life and death fight over a secret weapon of mass destruction that could destroy the universe they've all fought to preserve.