Unlikely Ties

Adeline Walton has always thrived in the spotlight-and the gossip columns. The only daughter of a powerful businessman, she's been free to do as she pleases, so long as she stays out of jail. But then, when she announces her intent to take over her father's empire, her world changes.

Her father reveals that because of her reputation as a wild child, she will be ineligible to join the company unless she proves that she has the capacity for serious commitment-any serious commitment. Dedicate her time to any worthy cause for one year, convince the board of directors at Walton Enterprises that she has what it takes to devote herself to things that matter, and she'll be allowed to achieve the one dream she hasn't been handed on a silver platter.

Ever the mischief-maker, Adeline decides to carry out her father's wishes in the most unexpected way possible: getting married. To her "fiance." Who she's been "dating" for a year already. She even has the perfect man in mind to play the part: Alex Christianson, her father's very own housekeeper.

Alex, a hardened and independent young man with a turbulent past, took up housekeeping for Adeline's father as a means to support himself after years of struggle. He only suggested himself as Adeline's "perfect match" as a sarcastic remark during an argument, knowing full well how opposite he and the spoiled, entitled Adeline are. But to his surprise, Adeline not only takes the idea completely seriously-she offers him a handsome sum to go along with it. All he has to do is marry her until Walton Enterprises is convinced of her capacity for commitment, play the part of a perfectly smitten spouse, and she'll pay him twenty million dollars. Even for Alex, that offer is hard to resist.

Will Adeline and Alex's unlikely union prove strong enough to survive the pressure, or will their differences-and the meddling of someone from the past-be too much to overcome?