When Blake Ashton reluctantly returns to England for a business meeting-his first visit in ten years-he learns his partners are getting ready for a big family Christmas in the country. Ash wants none of that. He has just one plan in mind-to show his face, then immediately return to his free and easy life in the Far East. Making his way to Devon on a freezing dark night, he's accosted on the road by a footpad. Shots are exchanged and to Ash's horror he discovers he's accidentally wounded a girl. Ash can't leave her bleeding in the road, so he stays and tends her. Charlotte Underwood, in hiding from an unscrupulous guardian, is battling to support herself and her little brother. Wounded, and helpless in the hands of this handsome stranger, Charley soon realizes her heart is in danger from him too. Swept into a family Christmas with Max and Abby Davenham, and Abby's 'sisters of the heart'-not to mention their imperious aunt, Lady Beatrice-Charley finds the friendship and support her lonely heart craves. And as his feelings for Charley grow, Ash is forced to face up to his own past, and the reason he left England in the first place.