Mara Riley is out to prove she can make it on her own and to disprove her mother’s contention that the only way to security—and therefore happiness—is to marry a successful doctor or lawyer. But with her job as an activity director at a North Carolina mountain resort on shaky ground and her penchant for choosing all the wrong men, Mara’s not scoring high in the pursuit of either security or happiness.

Alex Price is on the rebound from a broken engagement. Who would have guessed his social-climbing fiancée would drop him, a successful lawyer with his own practice—okay, a successful practice with his two overbearing older brothers—for a back-to-nature forest ranger?

When these childhood adversaries meet on the “honeymoon” cruise Alex is now taking alone, they make a pact to help each other ward off unwanted attention from fellow shipmates—a pact that sends them sailing into uncharted waters.