Jilted Bride: Marrying My Ex-Fiancé's Comatose Uncle

“On my wedding day, I arrived at Ironwood expecting to become Damien Beaumont's wife. Instead, I found him in bed with my stepsister. She was wearing the bridal silk meant for me. He was kissing her like I was already nothing. "Must you really marry her?" Isolde purred. Damien laughed. He said he only needed me for a few months-just long enough to secure his dead uncle's inheritance. Then he would annul the marriage, brand me barren or mad, and marry Isolde instead. The best part? She was already pregnant with his child. They thought I would cry. They thought I would run home in disgrace. They thought a country-bred Hayes girl would quietly swallow the ruin they had made of her. They were wrong. I set the bridal suite on fire. By the time the servants and guests rushed in, Damien and Isolde were half-dressed, exposed, and surrounded by witnesses. Yet his family still tried to blame me. Poor upbringing. Too wild. Too vulgar. Not worthy of the Beaumont name. So I gave them a new scandal. I put on a black mourning dress, walked into the family chapel, and married Damien's supposedly dead uncle, Duke Alistair Beaumont. A war hero. A legend. A man declared dead before I ever met him. By a loophole in the marriage contract, I became his Duchess. Damien became my nephew. His mother became my sister-in-law. And everyone who looked down on me was suddenly forced to bow. But then my "dead" husband was brought back to Ironwood alive-breathing, silent, and trapped in a cursed, deathlike sleep. The Beaumont matriarch made me a ruthless offer: Give Alistair an heir, and I would have land, wealth, power, and protection no one could take from me. I accepted. Now I rule the estate that tried to bury me. My enemies are watching for one mistake. My comatose husband may not be as unaware as everyone believes. And if Damien thought betraying me was the end of my story, he should have listened more carefully when I said my vows. Because I did not marry a corpse. I married a Duke. And when he wakes, this entire house will learn what it means to cross his Duchess.”