She thought freedom meant never belonging to anyone again. He intends to show her that love need not feel like surrender. Widowed, scandal-marked, and fiercely protective of the independence she nearly lost, Lady Claudia Akford has no intention of remarrying. Society may whisper what it likes; she has survived worse. What she cannot survive, she believes, is placing her heart-and her future-into the hands of another man. Especially not a man like Lord Henry Shillington. Steady, handsome, and devastatingly tender, Henry awakens in Claudia desires she thought long buried. In his company, she finds ease. In his arms, she finds passion. But Henry is not content with stolen kisses or a secret attachment. He wants the whole of her, and Claudia does not know whether she can survive being loved so completely. As attraction blazes into something deeper, the past closes in and society waits for Claudia to fall. Yet for the first time, walking away may cost her more than surrender ever could. A sensual Victorian historical romance filled with yearning, scandal, emotional redemption, and a hero who will settle for nothing less than forever.