John Cavendish has carried a secret for most of his adult life: he has been in love with the wife of his best friend, Lady Emily Rutledge, since the first time he laid eyes on her. He never acted on it, but it hung in the air every time he was near her. Years have passed, she’s been widowed and they have become the closest of friends, but that deep feeling has remained. However now the holidays have arrived and she has invited him to a country party with a Twelve Days of Christmas theme. A party where she intends to matchmake all her guests.

Emily has leaned on Cavendish during the lonely years since her husband’s death and she will lean on him once more at her party. Only nothing is going to plan. None of the couples like each other, the birds are going wild and who knew drummers drumming would get so repetitive and LOUD? Plus, there is the fact that she and Cav are getting closer by the moment, igniting a desire in her that she never saw coming and feels like it might be a betrayal.

Will twelve days of revelry and seduction be enough to lure these two toward a future that could change their lives? Or will fear and angry geese keep love from blooming?