You’ll get your letters back.” Agreeing to a wedding but holding off the consummation, Maddie plans to find and destroy the letters, hence ending his hold over her. “We marry for our own reasons, as a mutually beneficial agreement. MacKenzie arrives at her castle with a band of soldiers, ready to settle in, in effect blackmailing her into marriage by threatening to release her letters to a scandal sheet. So it's something of a shock when one Highland Capt. In the meantime, she’s inherited a castle in Scotland and has established a career as an illustrator for naturalists. Finally, out of guilt for the long deception she’s created, she kills him off and pretends to go into mourning for her valiant captain, fallen in battle. Logan MacKenzie, then spends five years 'corresponding' with her fictional love, pouring out her teenage heart and posting letters off, imagining them landing in some enormous lost-mail room. So, at 16, on the cusp of a London season, she creates a fictional suitor and actually writes to him, Capt. Miss Madeline Gracechurch is good with drawing pencils but terrified of drawing rooms and especially crowds, becoming so painfully shy that she literally freezes up, practically unable to speak or move. Dare's swiftly moving plot is enhanced by the seamlessly developed romance, and the sensuality is heightened by the slow awakening of the unlikely pair's mutual attraction.A young debutante creates a fictional soldier-sweetheart, conveniently away in the war, to avoid a London season, then is stunned when, years later, the embodiment of her imagined beau shows up on her doorstep, prepared to marry her. But their mutually acceptable agreement is hampered by their physical desire, as Logan comes to know the woman behind the letters and Maggie learns to break through his practiced emotional detachment. And he assures Maggie that once they've consummated the marriage, she can continue her work while they both enjoy their freedom. Logan wants to have a home for his men who have followed him through the trials of battle the castle is perfect. Though Maddie explains that the letters were purely fictional, he intends to make good on his promise to marry her.

Nine years later, Logan appears at Lannair Castle, where Maddie resides with her aunt Thea. He conveniently dies in battle, leaving her to pursue an illustration career and savor singlehood. Logan MacKenzie, a Highland warrior, pretending that he's her fianc. Maddie Gracechurch, determined to avoid a London season, writes to Capt. Dare's marvelous third Castles Ever After Regency romance (after Say Yes to the Marquess) builds a gradual, intense romance between two people who are determined to avoid love and commitment.

When a scot ties the knot by tessa dare