A Marriage of Convenience with a Guarded Lady by Emily Barnet

Miss Bernadette Rowland, timid and overlooked, enters her fifth Season resigned to spinsterhood under her critical mother’s scrutiny. But Bernadette’s gentle heart and hidden passions begin to awaken when an unexpected engagement to a brooding viscount disrupts her dull future. Can an enigmatic gentleman unlock her guarded heart and restore her hopes of love?

Timid and overlooked, Miss Bernadette Rowland enters her fifth fruitless Season resigned to spinsterhood’s dull future, longing escaping her critical mother’s scrutiny. When her father brokers an abrupt engagement to the brooding Lord Nicholas Lovell, Bernadette acquiesces, hoping perhaps affection can one day blossom in their union of convenience.
Lord Nicholas Lovell has avoided the Marriage Mart for years, haunted by past heartbreak and consumed with the crushing weight of upholding his family’s legacy. But with succession duties looming, his domineering grandfather orchestrates Nicholas’s sudden betrothal to the shy Miss Rowland. Though initially reluctant, Nicholas finds his defenses slowly lowered by Bernadette’s gentle empathy and passion for music.

As friendship warms to budding romance, Nicholas and Bernadette discover a poignant connection. When a ruthless scheme threatens to tear them apart, Bernadette and Nicholas must choose to either submit to duty or give love its due. Against the odds, two overlooked souls dare to defy convention and family obligation. Will they successfully claim hard-won happiness on their terms?