Marrying a Reluctant Lady by Amanda Stones

The course of duty does not allow love…but the heart has its reasons.

Miss Ophelia Worthington longs to marry for love, not just wealth and ambition as her social-climbing parents demand. An incurable romantic who secretly writes poetry, she hopes to find a gentleman who understands her creative spirit. When an abrupt arrangement secures Ophelia an advantageous match to the newly titled and enigmatic Earl of Ivystone, she resigns herself to a marriage of obligation devoid of affection.
Lord Owen Beckworth never expected to inherit the deteriorating Ivystone Estate. The fresh grief over his father and brother’s tragic deaths still haunts him while struggling to restore the declining family lands and legacy. Too pragmatic to consider romance, Owen agrees to wed Ophelia for her generous dowry to rescue his ancestral home from ruin.
At first detached strangers trapped in a marriage of convenience, an unexpected friendship slowly entwines Owen and Ophelia through shared passions for reading and poetry. As their pragmatic union transforms into an emotional connection neither anticipated, both will be challenged to choose between duty and letting love guide their fates.

Destiny binds two lonely souls through a marriage of obligation. But could simmering affection between them defy expectations, making theirs a match for the ages founded upon true love?