Candy H.

Vivi, the Duchess of Bradford, loved her husband from the day they first met. She was an unabashed hoyden. He was the heir to a dukedom and her older brother’s best friend. She vowed to marry him, but she never could have imagined just how dreadfully that youthful promise would go awry, shattering her hope for a future.

When Lady Christina Barclay's parents settle on an intolerable suitor, Christina turns to her reclusive neighbor, a darkly handsome and utterly compelling inventor, for help. Oliver Hawkes reluctantly agrees to a platonic marriage...with his own condition: The marriage must end after one year. Not only does Oliver face challenges that are certain to make life as his wife difficult, but more importantly, he refuses to be distracted from his life’s work - the development of a revolutionary device that could transform thousands of lives, including his own.