Once before, Lady Beatrice allowed others to separate her from the love of her life, the dashing but impoverished Jacob Blackwell. This time, she won’t make the same mistake. The man who returns to her is cold and aloof with battle scars that run down his entire body. Years of war have hardened him, giving him an intensity that makes him even more alluring. He is determined to stay away from her. But Beatrice is just as determined not to let him go.
A decade earlier, Jacob Blackwell was a commoner with no hope of marrying the daughter of a Marquess. Now he is Lord Redgrave, a wealthy, titled military hero and eminently suitable for the lady who captured his heart long ago. At least, that’s how it looks on paper. Lord Redgrave knows that while society may at last approve of their match, he cannot be Beatrice’s husband. The war has stripped away everything that was good about him, leaving only a damaged and bitter shell of a man. No matter what he feels for her, he must do the selfless thing and stay away from Beatrice, for both their sakes. But no matter how much Jacob tries to resist, Beatrice has always been able to evoke feelings in him that no one before or since ever has. She is a fire in his blood that burns eternal, and before long Jacob is right where he started, desperately in love with the girl of his dreams. Knowing that even after all he has sacrificed, she is still too good for him.