A wonderful story about two strangers thrown together by circumstance who progress from mutual friendship and respect to passionate attachment.  They have to get to know each other and both of them make mistakes and say and do things that annoy the other, yet they are both mature enough to be able to own up to those missteps, apologise for them and move on.  Even though both are keeping secrets, there’s an honesty to their relationship that is refreshing, and a sense that these are two people who are going to make a go of things.The main action of the book starts a day before Christmas Day, as Ed Langford, Earl of Westmere, takes shelter from the weather only to discover that someone else has had the same idea. Lily Marlowe has not only gone into the shepherd’s hut to get out of the cold, though. She is in labor. While he had to give up his medical training to take over his aristocratic duties, Ed still remembers enough to help Lily through the delivery of her daughter. In order to protect her from the life of an unwed mother, he offers to marry her right on the spot.