A chance meeting between the sheltered daughter and the forward-thinking son of rival Victorian families sparks a forbidden romance in USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews's fourth book in her acclaimed Somerset Stories series.

Shy and stammering Meg Burton-Smythe has spent the whole of her life living on the fringes of local society. She's more comfortable with her daydreams than she is with people. But when a dashing, golden-haired hero rides to her rescue one morning, she dares to hope that her dreams might finally come true. There's only one problem: her handsome rescuer is the son of her father's sworn enemy.

Ivo Beresford doesn't believe in clinging to the past. Freshly returned from a lengthy grand tour, he's looking to the future, eager to spearhead the building of a new railway extension in Somersetshire. But an unexpected encounter with Meg Burton-Smythe, the isolated only daughter of his parents' oldest foe, sets the past and the future colliding.

Resolved to put ancient grudges to rest-at least where innocent young ladies are concerned-Ivo encourages lonely Meg to embark on a secret friendship. After all, what harm can a friendship do? It isn't as though there's any danger of the two of them falling in love...