Description: Three years after eloping for love, Clara Vale learns exactly how much that love was worth. When Adrian Hawthorne returns to the capital in triumph, he is no longer the poor man who once promised her a future. He is rising fast, welcomed by powerful families, and poised to make a far more advantageous marriage. The woman who suffered beside him is suddenly nothing more than an embarrassment he can leave behind. With her reputation in ruins and her future shrinking by the day, Clara is pushed into an unexpected match with Julian Ashford-the frail, coughing eldest son of a noble house. Everyone says it is a blessing. Everyone knows it is a bargain. In the Ashford manor, Clara is caught between a cold mother-in-law, a hostile younger brother, and a family that sees her as useful only as long as she can serve their interests. But Julian is not as simple as he seems, and Clara is no longer the girl who once threw everything away for love. As old wounds reopen and Adrian begins to regret what he lost, Clara must survive a marriage built on desperation, endure the cruelty of a powerful household, and decide whether she will spend the rest of her life being chosen by others-or claim her own fate at last. Author Biography: Emily Parker is a contemporary romance author known for emotionally rich stories of love, longing, and second chances.