Roman Summer — Jane Arbor

She mustn't let her love override reason.

Ruth had lived in and loved Rome for several years, so when she was offered a job which involved teaching a bright young teenager like Cicely to know and love it too, she didn't think it seemed particularly arduous. It was the circumstances surrounding the job that were going to be the problem -- for the man who was employing her was none other than Erie Nash, who had unexpectedly come back into her life for the first time since she had, as a teenager herself, adored him from a distance.

Soon Ruth had to admit that she found him as attractive as ever. But fight it she must, for there was certainly no chance of a future for them. And Cicely, her young charge, seemed to occupy most of his interest -- and in any case, hadn't Erie once said, ‘The folly of marriage is a heady, distracting adventure I don't mean to afford'?

Hero: Erie Nash
Heroine: Ruth Sargent