A New Year's resolution given in a moment of frivolity must be upheld when masks come off, leaving identities—and hearts—revealed. Sophie Teasdale has turned down every eligible bachelor in London. She longs to marry for love, rather than security, but no man has offered her both. The memory of a stolen embrace with her childhood friend Colin Randolph has left her confused about her feelings for him. When a handsome stranger sweeps her off her feet at a masquerade ball, she's more confused than ever. Does she love Colin, or is the stranger the man she's been dreaming of? There has never been any woman for Colin Randolph but Sophie, but she doesn't see him as a man, only her childhood playmate. Is she too inexperienced to understand his hesitant advances—or is he forced to forever love her from afar? A New Year's blizzard and a masquerade ball provide him with the chance to convince Sophie the man of her dreams has been by her side all along.