They ran away from duty and obligation…what they found was passion and love.
Celia was desperate to escape her sister’s malice and manipulation, fearful of the loveless marriage being arranged for her. Running away with little more than the clothes on her back, she searched for a new, liberated life. What she found was a man who ignited her passion, and offered to protect her from whatever evil she was desperate to evade.
Silas abandoned his life of comfort, needing to find a way out of the marriage of convenience he was being forced into. If he were to tie himself to any woman, he wanted her to see him as more than a profitable transaction, following her heart into his bed rather than allowing convention to push her up the aisle. Reunited with the beauty he met at the Riparian Hotel, yearning for her touch, Silas craved to know why she affected him as no woman had before.
Finding work as a barmaid, Celia embraced her new life and the man who seemed content to share it with her. When her sister locates and confronts her, threatening to drag her back home, Celia runs to her lover, needing him to make good on his promise to protect her.
But Silas has been tracked down and confronted by his father, and given an ultimatum: return home. Before he could beg Celia to understand the secrets he’d been keeping from her, both of them were being dragged back across the river, each of them forced back into the lives they once risked everything to escape.
Will Silas be able to rescue Celia from her sister’s merciless vengeance? Even if he does, will she ever be able to believe that he is as trapped by his family as she is?
Warning: contains sex, strong language, and some violence.
