They are the notorious swordsmen of New Orleans, bound by a brotherhood of loyalty, skill and courage -- infamous by day, dangerous at night, loyal only to each other and the women they love . . . At ease making life-and-death decisions between breaths, maitre d'armes Nicholas Pasquale proposes marriage to a beautiful and desperate stranger, a woman who offers comfort to his irascible young charge and calmly tells him the boy needs a mother. It is a challenge he can't resist. Nor can Juliette Armant. Though pledged to the church since infancy, she's been summoned to save her family in the only way possible . . . by marriage. Once she is wed, she will claim an ancestral marriage chest -- and protect its secret contents from the dubious intent of her twin sister, who wants the treasure all to herself.
