Forbidden Desire

In the sweltering tension of 1823 Philadelphia, two worlds collide that were never meant to touch. Rupert Nottingham is the "Spare"-the third-in-line to a British Viscountcy, a tall, piercing-eyed nobleman who hides the bruised knuckles of an illegal prize-fighter beneath his tailored London wools. Seeking three years of anonymity in the Americas before succumbing to the duty of a titled marriage, he finds himself drawn not to the ballrooms of the elite, but to the raw grit of a dockside tavern.
There, he finds Sarah, a woman whose beauty is as sharp as her resilience. A daughter of the forge, newly freed from the shackles of Georgia, she is a woman fighting to survive in a society that still views her as property. When Rupert claims her-not just as his mistress, but as the secret cornerstone of his plan to carve a kingdom out of the wild Michigan Territory-he sets in motion a dangerous game of status, passion, and survival.
From the opulent, candlelit chambers of a Philadelphia manor to the untamed forests of the Northwest, their journey is one of fervent, forbidden romance and high-stakes ambition. Rupert promises Sarah a crown in the wilderness and a wedding ring in Canada, but the ghosts of the London "Ton" and the prejudices of the New World threaten to tear them apart.