Returning to England after years abroad with Wellington's army -- first as an officer's daughter, then trapped in a loveless marriage with a military man -- recently widowed Bella MacFarlane longs only to raise her son, Jamie, on the farm she inherited from her father. That soon proves to be a battle she cannot win, for Jamie is the new duke of Dorney, and his guardian is a man she dreads facing -- her late husband's cousin, Phillipe Armitage. Four years before, Bella and Phillipe had shared a single night of passion. But when Phillipe was captured by the French, Bella surrendered to his cousin's marriage proposal...only to discover that the man she had loved and thought dead survives -- and he believes she has betrayed him for ducal rank.Phillipe loved his colonel's beautiful daughter from the first, but any hope he had for their union was shattered when he returned from his imprisonment to find her married to his cousin. Now, though Bella is free once more, memories of her supposed treachery forestall any thought of reconciliation. But when danger threatens both Bella and the child under their protection, he charges to their defense, determined to win a lifetime of happiness for them all.
