_Balinor_

Lady Rhea Montgomery, Countess of Riverian has the perfect life.
A wonderful, powerful husband who rules his county with dignity and honour. Enough wealth to keep her dressed in the finest of silks and decked in jewels to enhance her radiant beauty. And people who love her as their beloved Countess.
Life is perfect, until suddenly it isn't and Rhea loses everything to a woman younger and more capable.
Becoming no one after being someone is almost too much to bear and just when Rhea resigns herself to her fate, along comes Lord Augustus Holloway, Duke of Ravenholm.
Everything she has heard about the powerful and dangerous man says to stay away but his sweet fondness for her says otherwise.
Augustus seduces Rhea into his frightening yet exciting world and leaves her questioning whether she could be someone without Lanon, and if her connection to him is worth the chaos it brings into her once peaceful life.
Rhea had once been a merchant's daughter and then a Countess. If she played the game right, and she damn well will, she could become a Duchess or maybe even Queen.

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Note: There is some confusion because of the language I use and the setting but please be aware that THIS IS NOT A HISTORICAL NOVEL.
It's a mix between 19th/20th century society and values and modern day technological advances.
Please keep that in mind so you don't go in with expectations that will not be met.
If you're cool with that, go right ahead and enjoy.

Lord Holloway's Adored Lady: Climbing The Ranks After Divorce

'Lonan had been just as skilled in deceit,' the voice of Rhea's mother whispered in her head as the young woman was wracked by feelings of betrayal.

This was an expected outcome for all women in her place, but to have it happen so soon after he had sworn to hell and back it would not, turned off the rational part of Rhea's brain.

"If there was an award for the least likely to keep a man, I would be the running champion," she joked with a humourless smile, turning to make her escape from him and the room before she did or said something that would count as treason.

Augustus caught her by the arm before she could escape and forced her to stay and face him. "I do not understand. This is simply a courtship..."

"And what do all courtships lead to, oh wise and capable one?!" She batted his hands away, glaring up at him with emotions she herself could not put into words.

The Duchess Arrives