A romance of lingering pain, old letters, and new possibilities.

 

Miss Adelaide Harris, the eldest daughter of the second Viscount Morley, is approaching five and twenty and a life of spinsterhood disabled by rheumatism. With hands too brittle for playing the pianoforte and a constitution that can barely tolerate a walk in the gardens, Della’s parents have restricted her to their country manor even during the season.

 

But on the eve of Della’s birthday, they’re overheard discussing the property Della is about to inherit—a barony that is hers in her own right. It belonged to her long-deceased birth mother, and the estate was placed in trust until Della’s marriage or her twenty-fifth birthday. They don’t intend for Della to ever know, for their poor, sickly Adelaide could never run a barony of her own. And they know she’ll never marry, as no one could want a wife afflicted by such pain.

 

Beloved by the few who truly know her and irreparably harmed by those who were supposed to love her, Della can either choose to stay the course of her tragically predictable life, or she could give everyone who has taken such loving care of her a better life. She could give girls like herself a home and a place to belong.

 

But to do so, she’ll need the help of someone loyal only to her. Someone her parents can’t influence. And she knows just the man for the job: her long-lost childhood friend and first love. Andrew is working his way up through the London courts, bored of making a name for himself. When he receives a pleading letter from the girl he’s never been able to forget, he’ll do anything to bring back the vibrant woman he knew. Even stoop to her family’s level.

 

Tropes you’ll enjoy:

• Second-chance romance

• First love

• Friends to lovers

• Class difference

• Secret inheritance

• Secret love letters

• Bluestocking FMC

• Found family