_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

"The King has summoned me to Eldoria," Augustus revealed to Rhea.

"Really? What could the King need you in the capital for? Is it about the Duchess?"

"In part," he nodded, eyes straying to the slim windows on the far wall, looking out onto the grounds, "but there are matters he is much more concerned with than the marriage he wrongly believes he has arranged for me."

"The Duchess shares in that belief. Did you know she..." she trailed off, her bottom lip slipping between her teeth as she contemplated telling him.

Augustus was too in tune with her emotions to allow her silence herself. "She," he urged.

She sighed. "Della threatened something violent If I refuse to get in line, so to speak."

His expression darkened. "Are you saying she threatened your life?"

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Augustus drew in a lungful of air as he jumped away from the table.

Protecting Rhea