When Linc met Erin in college, she was already engaged to his best friend. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, a war commenced within him. On one side, the need to resist his attraction to her, and on the other to have her for his own. Erin Clay, widowed, is raising a son, who's turning five come September. Growing up as a minister's daughter, she received a lot of well-meaning charity-donations comprised primarily from the cast-off clothing her schoolmates no longer wanted. When Erin was in college, she'd been swept off her feet by Merrill Clay. He was sophisticated, wealthy, and self-assured. Handsome, too, he'd introduced her to a world that seemed to have all the things her own life had lacked. With stars in her eyes and her head in the clouds, how could she say no to his marriage proposal? It's been a year since Merrill's death, much too soon for her to be developing feelings for Linc Severance, her late-husband's business partner and former best friend. If Erin is no longer certain that she married Merrill for the right reasons, how can she trust her growing awareness and feelings for Linc? She's no longer a young and naive college student. With a son to care for, it's vital that she put away her girlish dreams of passion and love. And, as for Linc, he's determined to untangle his former partner's business interests from Erin's finances. Then, he'll disappear from her life forever. He's wasted too many years loving a woman never met to be his.