A reputation in shambles …
Ever since making her London debut, Lavinia Bathurst has led a life filled with the things she always dreamed of: an endless array of parties and entertainments, a place within high society, and an earl whose actions will surely lead to a marriage proposal. That is, until her faith in the earl proves woefully misguided, and his desertion at a pivotal moment brings about her ruin. Facing exclusion from the world she so esteems, Lavinia seeks help elsewhere, from the only source she can still trust: the longtime friend with an unparalleled ability to cure and fix.

A skilled healer …
William Harris is a newly trained surgeon, studious and sensible in all areas but one. Since the age of fifteen, he’s been hopelessly in love with Lavinia Bathurst, a baron’s daughter far above his station. Nothing can come of his sentiments, of course, and when Lavinia leaves their Devonshire village for the bustle of London, he resigns himself to never so much as seeing her again. All until a year later, when she shows up at his door abandoned and desperate, begging for assistance. And the best solution, it seems, is for them to wed.

A chance to pick up the pieces …
In a union born of necessity, love and passion can have nothing to do with it. Yet as Lavinia and Will adjust to a simple country life so different from the one they each envisioned, sparks fly between them in unexpected ways. Could the happiness Lavinia seeks be much closer to home than she thought? Could Will dare to hope that his affections are more than unrequited? Perhaps they can take the wreckage from a horrible situation and rebuild, turning their friendship into a true, loving marriage. As long as past afflictions don’t return to sweep it all away.

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