BOOK #1

After a disastrous Season, Alice has given up on marriage for herself, but not for her friends. This Christmas, she'll match-make her friend with a neighboring Earl. Only, when Alice calls upon him, she finds James a changed man--scarred, brooding, grumpy! And now she's snowed in with him. James Marlowe, the new Earl of Thornwood, has returned to take possession of his neglected Lake District estate and heal his broken heart. He has no need of Alice's irri-tating Christmas cheer. But when an awkward mistletoe kiss turns passionate, the ice begins to melt around his frostbitten soul.