The quintessential small-town girl with her nose in a book, Tara Gumser had never been kissed when she met Tim Barney on her first day in college. Tara fell hard and fast for the hunky tennis ace, and she dreamed of sharing the rest of her life with him. And while Tim was wild for this gifted young woman who was certain of one destiny--to pen her own Harlequin romances some day--he wasn't quite as ready to commit as young Tara.

It was another man's hand who shattered her trust and stole her saved innocence on one fateful night. And yet another man she lay cold beside in a loveless marriage-of-convenience bed. Yes, bad things happened after Tara broke up with Tim. Very bad things that she hid between the pages of the romance novels she would become famous for writing as 'Tara Taylor Quinn.' These were stories of love triumphant, and yet Tara's own sad marriage had finally come to an end.

But when an e-mail message from Tim Barney suddenly upends her world, the past is brought into shocking focus. Does she remember him--the guy from college whose heart she broke? He's never forgotten her.

Plunged into a plot twist beyond her own imaginings, Tara has to discover if love can be as real as the kind she writes about. Is it possible that after years of emotional isolation, this best-selling author may finally embrace a happily-ever-after of her own?