When Ruth gets set up on a blind date with Carter Wilson, she agrees to go out with him as a favor to a friend. But she's not interested in Carter. He might be the most attractive man she's ever known, but he's too rich. Too indulged. Too nice all the time. Right now, her career comes first in her life, and even if it didn't, she's looking for a man with rougher edges.

Plus, she suspects he might still have a thing for a woman he can never have.

Carter wants to get his friends and family to stop trying to fix him up, so he suggests a scheme that might help them both. They can pretend they fell in love and fake an engagement until Christmas. His friends will back off, and she can use the social events in the very wealthy town of Green Valley to line up a lot of new contacts for her interior design business.

All she has to do is pretend she's going to marry Carter. It should be easy. It's not like she'll ever be his bride for real.