Out of deep affection and loneliness, schoolteacher Melinda Rodgers married a wealthy older man.

Now a widow at twenty-nine, she is stunned to learn that his will requires her to set up a foundation and remarry within the year–or lose her inheritance to a charity of Blake Hunter's choice.

As executor of the will, handsome, no-nonsense Blake insists that Melinda carry out the terms of her inheritance to the letter. But she would rather give up the entire fortune than marry again for anything other than love.

And judging by the dangerous, unfulfilled yearning that has simmered between the two of them for years, Blake may be the man who can bring her the deepest, most passionate kind of love…or the most heartbreaking betrayal of all.