she harbors a secret yearningas a lover of animals and nature beatrix hathaway has always been more comfortable outdoors than in the ballroom even though she participated in the london season in the past the classic beauty and freespirited beatrix has never been swept away or seriously courted and she has resigned herself to the fate of never finding love has the time come for the most unconventional of the hathaway sisters to settle for an ordinary manjust to avoid spinsterhood he is a worldweary cyniccaptain christopher phelan is a handsome daring soldier who plans to marry beatrixs friend the vivacious flirt prudence mercer when he returns from fighting abroad but as he explains in his letters to pru life on the battlefield has darkened his souland its becoming clear that christopher wont come back as the same man when beatrix learns of prus disappointment she decides to help by concocting prus letters to christopher for her soon the correspondence between beatrix and christopher develops into something fulfilling and deep and when christopher comes home hes determined to claim the woman he loves what began as beatrixs innocent deception has resulted in the agony of unfulfilled loveand a passion that cant be denied