As one of the youngest earls in the empire, Brandon doesn't find true friends easily. Everyone wants something from him-favours, money, help. So when he meets Emily on the Flying Scotsman, she wins him with her honesty and charm. The fact they have the same taste in books doesn't hurt either.

After another train crashes against the Flying Scotsman, Brandon and Emily are injured, and Emily's parents die. He's determined to take care of her, but Emily's aunt wants to be her niece's guardian.

Years later, Brandon meets Emily at a ball. The bond they forged on the Flying Scotsman is still strong, and they get close although the tragedy changed them both.

Brandon learns her aunt is secretly planning to pocket Emily's inheritance as long as Emily doesn't marry in the next few weeks.

Wishing to protect Emily, he proposes a red-hot marriage-a quick wedding in Scotland, which means taking the Flying Scotsman. The only problem? Emily doesn't travel on a train anymore, especially on that doomed train. She'd have a fit if she had to sit on a train for hours on end.

But she has only a few weeks before her parents' legacy is gone forever.