A Contract Written in Duty and Desire

She came to Copperveil, Tennessee with a legal problem, an empty bank account, and a plan that should never have worked.

Nora Voss inherited her aunt's farmhouse — and with it, a forged debt her former business partner weaponized to take everything June had built. Under Tennessee law, the only way to protect the property is to be married. So Nora walks into the sheriff's office and makes Cole Merritt an offer he has every reason to refuse.

Cole Merritt has been running this county for ten years. He doesn't make impulsive decisions. He doesn't let people in. And he absolutely does not agree to marry a stranger.

Except he keeps reading her documents after she leaves. And her window is broken. And the east fence is down.

The arrangement is simple: six months, separate rooms, convincing enough to fool a small town. What neither of them planned for is Copperveil itself — the Saturday markets and harvest festivals and neighbors who notice everything — slowly dissolving the careful distance they've each spent years building.

He shows up. She starts to expect it. And somewhere between the fence line and the first frost, a contract written in duty becomes something neither of them knows how to sign away.

A sweet, slow-burn small town romance about two guarded people, a temporary arrangement, and the terrifying realization that some things were never temporary at all.

Clean and wholesome — heartfelt romance with no explicit content.