The King of Avalon had sworn to marry the first woman he met who didn't talk his ears off. He'd made the vow in jest, but then he'd taken refuge in that cottage in the Dark Woods and found the woman of his dreams. Young, beautiful...and silent! What more could a man ask for?

With an absent-minded king for a father and twelve motherless, trouble-prone brothers to care for, Princess Arianne has had her hands full. Then her brothers get into trouble one too many times and a witch turns them into swans. The only way Arianne can free them from the curse is by knitting twelve shirts of nettles without ever saying a word. Then, just when she thinks things can't get any worse, a tall, dark, handsome, and incredibly arrogant man strolls through her cottage door, demanding his dinner and tracking mud across her freshly mopped floor. And she can't say a word about it!