To get the land he needs Lord Rupert Veryan must marry Farmer Tolliver’s witless daughter. Gossip says Jenny has been raised in a barn, denied an education, and used as a servant. Even if she could act like a lady, he would never wed a foolish bride. Rupert has no intention of putting his head in the parson’s noose to marry the wild young woman, until he meets her.
The lovely Jenny Tolliver waits for Rupert on the path to her home. She mocks him delightfully, refuses to marry him, quotes Shakespeare, and tells him kindly that no one wants to marry the poor youngest son of a wicked noble family. He insists his mother is not wicked, though he cannot deny the rest.
Jenny acts the fool in front of her father. Rupert is convinced she is afraid of the brute. If she is a somewhat uncivilized, surely being raised in a barn by a donkey could do that to anyone. Meeting Jenny has thrown him into a storm of passion and laughter, laced with pity for her life with Tolliver. Rupert wants the land and Jenny, but can she be taught to be a lady? Or will she forever be his foolish bride?
