Secrets and lies made poor references, Linnea McConaughy knew. But her survival depended upon keeping her past hidden, especially from her employer, rancher Will Tucker. True, he'd shown her kindness, even tenderness, but could he ever accept her shameful past—and another man's baby?

Will Tucker did not like surprises, and Linnea McConaughy was not the sturdy, past-her-prime widow he'd expected to manage his household. Instead, she was a tiny slip of womanhood desperately seeking a place to belong. Yet much to his growing surprise, that place seemed to be in his home—and his heart!

Then Linnea McConoughy shows up. She's young. Timid. And entirely inappropriate for the hardships and workload she's hired to handle. And she has secrets...

He decides to send her packing the very next day. Linnea decides she owes him for her room and board, so she cooks the best meal the men have eaten in a long time. On the journey back to town, she cries in her sleep, and this tears at Will’s heart, thinking she is mourning her husband. He agrees to give her a chance. She has one month to prove she can handle the job.

Linnea excels at being a housekeeper, cook, and washerwoman and takes to the ranch life like she was born to it. What she doesn’t know she finds out from the right sources. One source is Will’s stepmother who lives on the ranch. Aggie is elderly and can’t do what she used to. She is feisty and her relationship with Will is one of caring covered up by arguing and bickering. But Aggie sees the value in Linnea and helps her all she can.

Another source Linnea turns to is one of the ranch hands, Cimarron. She is sent to town with a list of supplies to buy, and can’t read the list. Her father, then her husband refused to allow her to go to school and learn. She feels inferior. Cimarron offers to teach her to read at night, but Linnea decides they need to hide this from Will. She equates his anger and bark as being the same as her father. But Will surprises her - when he finds out, he encourages her.

Will is an isolated man who doesn't know how to interact with people. Linnea is a victim of abuse who has found the perfect sanctuary with Will and the ranch's other inhabitants. Together they slowly begin to heal and to learn how to open their hearts, and trust love.