Anyway, Daniel (or Griffin as his birthname), has been living on the streets. He was raised by an impoverished family that died when he was about 10. And, he took in a girl off the streets, Annie, and has helped raise her ever since. Of course, by now they're "married" (as married as two poor people living on the streets can be) and they steal for a living.
Daniel is confronted by some thugs who are actually not thugs; they're people who are trying to restore him to his rightful place as 3rd son to a Duke. Daniel thinks they've been caught stealing and hilarious hijinks ensue until all is sorted out.
So, when the evil, abusive father meets his long-lost son and discovers that he is "married", Daniel's father decides to put a stop to it and convinces Daniel to go to the country to learn how to be a gentleman while his "wife" stays in London since it isn't proper because they're not really married and his father will have them marry once Daniel comes back to London. Or some other such bullshit.
Daniel believes him and a few months later, he is shocked to discover that his father has made Annie a maid in his London townhouse. Daniel puts up with it for a couple of days before he moves Annie into his bed as his mistress since his father won't allow anything else to happen. Or something along those lines. Daniel has to find a way to be with Annie because he is dreadfully unhappy without her and he would rather be living on the streets with her than in a palace without her or some other such nonsense.
Daniel goes to Nicholas and Victoria for help and they take Annie in as "Anna, the daughter of a foreign prince who was friends with Nicholas during Nicholas's army stint and whom Nicholas promised to watch over if anything should happen to him" and James and Maggie are also involved somehow. It turns into another Professor Higgins-Eliza Doolittle, which seems to be the theme of these stories (except the middle one).
So, we spend another several pages going over Daniel and Annie trying to get every chance they can together as well as trying to appear presentable and get each other afianced. Of course, spiteful ton members speak ill of Daniel and Annie because of jealousy or envy or something. Finally, Daniel can't take it any more and kidnaps Annie and takes her to Gretna Green, much to the shock of everybody, but Father is cool with it because Annie is a perfectly respectable wife for his 3rd son.
That's as far as I've gotten in the story so far, but I'm sure I'm going to make Daniel's father find out or something equally traumatic because it needs some conflict and excitement. At one point, I had Daniel and Annie running away together and living as paupers in a village somewhere in England while Daniel's father looked for them and then when he found them, he threw Annie into Newgate and then had her sold off to the colonies as an indentured servant and Daniel had to go after her and rescue (or buy) her back. But that seemed exceedingly extreme and so I decided to turn that into another book that I have not worked on just yet.