Publisher's Synopsis
Returning home, Confederate hero Colonel Graham Talbot faces his toughest battle yet--avoiding the marriage-minded young ladies in town vying for his attentions. With a stepmother and orphaned niece to support, the penniless soldier has no intention of marrying. Neither does the woman he once loved, his next-door neighbor Ellie Anderson. But Ellie has a proposal of her own: a pretend courtship to keep their unwanted admirers at bay. Ellie's unpredictable childhood left her determined to safeguard her independence--and her plantation. Blaming herself for driving Graham away to war, she devises a plan to help them both. But when it goes awry, Ellie will face a choice: save her beloved property or trust in a relationship that's becoming. undeniably real.
