An imaginary fiance and an ill-fitting engagement ring. Dangerous cliff-side sleigh rides and gingerbread houses. An unexpected guest who refused to marry her. When Cornelia Quinn returns home from her first term at Smith College nothing is as she expects. After their mansion is damaged in a fire, the Quinns move their Yuletide celebrations to their Newport "cottage." But that's not the only surprise—Geoffrey Ford, whom Cornelia was meant to marry until that awful day last summer, will be joining them. But Cornelia can't allow herself to be distracted by petty things like Geoffrey. She has come home for more than the holidays—she's running out of tuition money and she can only get it by claiming the inheritance Grandmother Elisabeth left her, but she'll have to be engaged before the solicitors will pay out.