It is almost Christmas, 1816, but there will be no feasting or family celebration for Ellie Carmichael, an isolated young widow, left destitute when her husband committed suicide to avoid his debts. All she has is her beloved small daughter, four year old Amy, who has never accepted her father's death, and puts a candle in the window "to guide my papa home".

One bitterly cold night, a stranger collapses on Ellie's doorstep, a man with no boots, no memories and no name, a man who swiftly enchants Ellie and her daughter alike. Now Ellie must protect her daughter, her virtue and her heart from the stranger, for who knows what his secrets may be?

Previously published as The Virtuous Widow