MARY FELLINGHAM has been called many things- troublemaker, lightskirt, do-gooder, prude, brat, healther. Bold as brass, some say. But none of these labels truly capture the fiercely independent woman she is. Mary has spent her life defying expectations, mending wounds, seen and unseen, and pushing against the rigid boundaries of society. Yet, there is one line she dare not cross.

EDMUND MERRIWEATHER is the only man who has truly seen Mary, the only man who stirs her restless heart, and the one man she can never have. Bound by duty and honor, he is promised to another, locked in a future that does not include Mary. But Fate has a way of unraveling the best of plans, and when circumstances force them into each other's company, temptation proves far more dangerous than propriety.

IN A WORLD where love is often a luxury, will Mary risk scandal, ruin, and heartbreak for the only man who has ever mattered to her? Or will she stand aside and watch the future she longs for slip through her fingers, as duty demands.