By Janette Radcliffe, Janet Louise Roberts, Janette Radcliffe [pseudonym of Janet Louise Roberts]
Melissa Brown, betrayed in love, saw nothing to lose in accepting the proposal of the Marques of Villafranca, a Spanish nobleman. The marriage was to be in name only, but soon Melissa began to believe her marriage, begun as a lie, had turned into a truth not to be denied. Could she draw her husband away from the spell of a ravishing Spanish noblewoman and win the man whose name she bore and whose love she desperately wanted?
Severity reflects intensity, not value — “central theme” means a warning is a core part of the book, not that the book is bad.