Be careful what you wish for...
Lord Havelock is in need of a wife. But with no time for a society wedding and no stomach for girlish fripperies his options are limited. So, with help from his friends, he draws up a list of qualities he does desire in a wife...

When orphaned Mary Carpenter discovers her handsome new husband's list she's hurt - and incensed. If he thinks she'll sit meekly by, be 'compliant' and 'a mouse', he's got another think coming! Is it perhaps time for Mary to make a list of her own, and change the rules of their relationship for ever... ?