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Prologue

Soland

1841

Marietta Greentree opened swollen eyelids and peeredlay on the floor, clothing spilling frohtgown she had thought to wear on her wedding night Her gaze slid away, found the light that trickled through a narro There were sounds drifting up from the stableyard Grooms, servants, eoing about their daily routine Everything normal

Except for Marietta, whose life could never be the saain

Gerard Jones, the man she had believed she loved, the man she had trusted, the man who had persuaded her to run off with hione He had left her here, in an impoverished inn on the road to the Scottish border

Her mother, Lady Greentree, had warned her, her sister Francesca had warned her, but she hadn’t listened His unsuitability in their eyes had onlyto her—in her youth and romantic idealism, she had been certain that she knew best They just didn’t understand, she told herself This was love as she had always dreamed it to be! So when Lady Greentree refused to allow the banns to be called, Marietta thought her heart was broken and ree to run aith him He loved her, and she loved him—surely that was all that mattered? She told herself that when her faether, they would see their iven

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Marietta groaned and covered her face with the pillow

Gerard hadn’t loved her at all He had wanted her body, or perhaps not even that Perhaps he was the sort of character who found his enjoyirl’s heart and reputation He was the sort of cad who had been secretly laughing at her all the time as he lured her into his trap And she was too silly to know it

And yet…was being war so silly? Marietta had been in love with love for as long as she could reression She had fallen in love with hi in love with hiined herself Isolde to his Tristan, Genevieve to his Lancelot

Her heart was nue that she had been putty in his hands—naïve putty, but putty all the sa to be allowed to make her his in truth—that hat he had said, “mine in truth,” just like a melodrama Indeed, as he kissed her and wrapped his arhtly unreal Delightful, yes, but dreamlike

Briefly she had heard a serious voice, a little like hersounded suspiciously like flu he loved her and only her, and…HerIn her favor, she had protested a little—a very little—but she was young and inexperienced and Gerard was neither In fact he had not been the gentle and caring lover she had i in his ar onset of doubt and dismay She had simply wanted it to be over

With burning cheeks she remembered how Gerard had risen fro about their wedding, about how she hoped her olden i to tarnish

He had laughed at her “Wedding?” he said He began to taunt her, infor voice that he had never intended to hter of Aphrodite, a famous London courtesan, and he had wanted to sample her firsthand And really, dear me, he’d had better

At first she had been too shocked to take it in She tried to s her, she told herself, hea cruel prank But he kept on, and slowly, surely, the horrible truth had sunk into her brain

Suddenly Marietta felt as if she was looking back upon herself froer whose pitiable actions were seriously flawed When Gerard had closed the door behind hi her to her fate, he had takeninnocent and sweet and trusting, and Marietta doubted it would ever return She did not want it to return She swore that she would never place herself in such a vulnerable position again

With a wince, aching in azed bleakly about her It was done They had spent the night together in the same inn In the same room

That was bad, very bad

And yet…Marietta sat up straighter, so way from Greentree Manor—this inn ell beyond the sphere of her family or those they knew Had anyone seen her arrive with Gerard? She did not think so Perhaps she could escape Gerard’s cruel trap after all, at least that would be a small victory over him

Melancholy lifted as new hope surged through her The situation could be salvaged No one but she and Gerard knew the truth, and he was long gone She doubted he would show his face again—he was too cowardly for that Perhaps, just perhaps, if she could nito, no one would be the wiser She would beg the forgiveness of her family, allow Mr Jardine, her mother’s secretary and family friend, to make up some clever story to account for her short absence No one need ever know that Lady Greentree’s second daughter had fallen into the clutches of Gerard Jones…

The c

hamber door opened and a tall dark shadow stood there The face was starkly fa heart Marietta recognized Lady Greentree’s fors Her o, and he had always resented her for it What shocking bad luck had brought him to this place at this moment?