As the eldest member of the Yancey clan's second generation, Rob has graduated from Columbia University in New York and returned to his family's San Francisco homestead. There, after a party celebrated by everyone within hollering distance and short breathing space, he joins Yancey Holdings as a consultant.

The position has not just been handed over. Since boyhood, Rob has worked his way up in the hotel chain, learning the business and handling more and more responsibility.

Now he is ready for the big time: wading through the corporate books to discover why four of their luxurious, once-grand hotels are now in such sorry shape, from the basement to roof. His family is at risk of losing both money and reputation, thanks to the double-dealing of someone at work behind the scenes.

Rob's first order of business is to find the identity of that someone, bring him to justice, and turn around the Holdings' slow decline.

It seems the dream job, traveling from San Francisco to San Jose, with the certainty of future trips to Sacramento, San Juan Capistrano, and more. Since he, too, like his uncles before him, has vowed that marriage is out of the picture, he will be able to devote all his time and energy to attaining his professional goals.

Easy enough. Until Fiona Brennan steps into his life. Her goal matches his: she doesn't want to get married, either. Especially not to him.

Ferreting out the corporate embezzler, while trying to deal with a prickly young lady who'd prefer not to be seen in his company, means sending out an SOS for assistance. In this case, his mother.