With the fruits of a successful season safely stowed, whaling captain Robert Thorpe reaches a milestone. The treasures of the sea will buy him a ship, with enough left over to purchase a house and find a wife. He has no lady in mind, but the tavern wench who catches his eye is surely the wrong woman for him. 
Forced to work in her stepmother's tavern, Beth Gordon faces gossip and lies that shred her hopes for a proper marriage. She has met only one man worth knowing, and he believes her a strumpet. If only she could return to her grandmother's home in the Highlands.

Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction? ****** Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything. [[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]