A Hint of Magic — Linda Andrews

When the handsome, if somewhat odd, professor hires her to house-sit for him, Molly has no idea she's about to enter a world she doesn't believe exists, a world where villains from the distant past travel across time in search of five powerful gems and a battered stuffed dragon shares secrets with her young son. Her life becomes even more surreal when her employer not only says he wants to marry her but insists on it--and Molly isn't about to argue. She needs to provide her son a complete family to keep her ex from gaining custody.

Molly doesn't believe in magic and fairy tales are for children and people who haven't had to deal with life and its sharp corners. It may be that very unbelief that will not only shatter her new dreams but destroy everything and everyone she loves.