Neenah Davis-Wilson

The past weekend for actress Thomasyna Tollefson has not been a pleasant one. Wasn't a good one for Dr. Stephan Deverill, DVM either.

Not only has Stephan's cousin Charley Ascott duped Thomi out of most of her money and a good deal of her dignity, he's run off with Stephan's fiancée, Aveleen Hallwell—leaving Thomi with nightmares and deep, deep regrets, and Stephan with a dilemma and a determination to beat Charley at his own game.

Plainly, there's only one way to accomplish that—charm Thomasyna out to dinner, into an engagement and ultimately marriage.

With Thomi, he would have a much better chance of meeting the terms of his grandfather's altered will on time. For certainly she'd have no wish to be in Charley's company again in her lifetime!

Entirely true. But then, she hasn't any wish to be in Stephan's either! A handsome face, sweet, sweet smile, eyes the color of a summer sky and a fascinatingly hypnotic voice that could charm a cobra up the sharp side of a butcher knife could only mean more drama and heartache!

The only drama she's interested in now is Littleton-by-the-Sea's Summer Benefit play; the proceeds of which will allow the family of frail seven-year-old Jaimee Shaine Kelmann to seek further treatment for her serious heart condition.

But a riding accident and a lengthy hospital stay open fresh opportunities for Stephan to storm her defenses. His gentle yet firm persuasiveness, his infinite patience, besides those other obvious charms begins to take her wall down, brick by brick. Indeed, the exasperated hospital staff and a few members of her family believe this man could be a life changing miracle for her.

Thomi's torn between that belief herself and that one of he can't possibly be different from the others.

Just as she's giving in to her Heart's desire, tabloids begin hitting the stands, offering the world their speculations and views about Thomi's newest relationship . . . leaking  information Stephan has so far withheld from her.

These new developments threaten to interfere with Thomi's involvement with the benefit play.

With her Mind and her Heart at war, her loyalties become hopelessly divided.

Should she stand with her man and declare finally to the public that she is truly irrevocably in love with him?

Or ought she to stay with the play because, after all, she'd sworn a Big Time Promise to Jaimee that she would without fail star in this production in her honor before she'd ever met Stephan!

If these things weren't enough to scramble her brains, Thomi learns that there are other issues at stake with this marriage business, more complicated than simply saving Papa Ascott's fortune from going to his collection of animals.

Yes, it's pretty much a situation of damned if she gives in—damned if she does not . . .