Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, so that I may accompany you to San Francisco de Asis and help you stop this war? Gloria Meriwether-Astor, determined to end the invasion her father and a power-hungry diplomat started, has found safety with the witches of the river canyons in the Wild West. But how can one young lady without so much as a hat to her name challenge a kingdom? Confronted with the solution-marriage-she has two choices: accept the help she needs, or return to Philadelphia alone and a failure. So, in the company of riverboat captain Stan Fremont-the dashing rogue she must now call husband-she sets off for the capital to negotiate with the Viceroy. But with an entire country mobilizing for war, the attempt could mean her life-and the life of the one person she is beginning to care for ...