Book excerpt: Julianna had lost everything—her father to illness, her belongings to bankruptcy, her beloved sweetheart to a voyage to the South Seas. Thrown into marriage by her vile stepbrother, she meets her husband-to-be on their wedding day. Sir Edmund is cold, distant and twenty years her senior! “Is this what my life has come to?” Strangely enough, he suggests that they keep their relationship chaste. He is hard to read and full of mystery, but as Julianna learns more about him, she can’t help but feel drawn to the kindness she discovers. Could her heart, promised to her beloved Crispin, possibly be swayed?