He is broken in both body and soul... George Stratford, Viscount Sommerfeld, is accustomed to being a man envied. As the eldest son of the Earl of Aldborough, he stands to inherit numerous properties and wealth along with a powerful title. He is well-liked among the ton and widely considered a man with a jovial disposition, winning smile, and sharp wit. Unfortunately for George, a tragic, violent injury lays him low and cripples his body as well as his future. His lack of improvement knocks his life from its seemingly unwavering course and plunges him into a dark hole simmering with anger and bitterness. Gone is the affable man, and in his place is a wounded lion who'd rather hold everyone at bay with claws and vicious, biting words than reveal to the world the true depth of his pain. She has nowhere to call home... Meredith Pryce has spent her life on the outside. An unwanted daughter of a lord who'd resented his Scottish wife, she'd been foisted off on her mother's relatives and found solace in books and the unconventional comfort of her uncle's medical practice before being married off to a man decades her senior. Her husband's death leaves her as the Dowager Baroness Gallwell, but her stepson, the new baron, makes it clear she's no longer safe or welcome in her home. What follows is a life of deprivation as she bounces from one home to the next, forever without security or the warmth of a family. When she's generously invited to stay at Rosehall, she hardly expects to be confronted with an embittered viscount with a permanent scowl. Nor does she expect that her past will play a vital role in saving them both. Can she show him life is still worth living? And can he teach her what love and acceptance are? Follow the eldest Stratford sibling as he overcomes his shattered sense of self and teaches a lost woman the true meaning of family. Witty banter, fiery passion, and steamy desire flow throughout this second book in "The Stratford Family" series; part of an interwoven, multilayered set of books with overlapping characters and plots. Fall in love with Kelsey Swanson's world of Regency Romance.
