A drunken laugh, a roll of the dice... and Aurora Sprague finds herself a child bride, married in haste to a young man she's never met to settle her father's gaming debt. Moments after the ceremony, the new groom gallops off to the army and Aurora is banished to a remote estate, married in name only.

Much to his dismay, highland warrior Jamie Waters finds himself chaperoning his ex’s nosy and occasionally dangerous aunts on their trip to visit the White House. To make matters worse, they’ve brought Shadow the Cat, who Jamie suspects isn’t actually a cat at all.

Anna Wilks went straight from her parents’ house to her husband’s. After thirteen years of trying to give him a son, she’s told she’s sterile. Her marriage crumbles and her husband leaves her for a younger woman who’s pregnant with his child. Anna finds her deceased aunt’s journal and discovers her secret. When Anna was little, she wanted to be just like her aunt, but then she grew up and forgot what it was like to be adventurous and fearless. Having no idea who she is now that she can’t be a wife and mother, Anna shocks her family by setting out on a desperate search to find herself. She follows her aunt’s journal to Mystic Valley, Vermont. Something about the place calls to her soul, except she doesn’t have a clue how to make it on her own. She falls into old habits and the welcoming supportive town comes to her rescue, especially Officer Drew Jones who makes a living at helping others and longs to find someone to take care of, even if that’s the last thing Anna needs. He is the perfect man on paper. The complete opposite of cynical, pessimist Editor-in-chief Clay Sullivan.