Miranda refused to listen to warnings. She didn't love Mark Sanders, but that didn't matter. He was heir to the estate where her mother was housekeeper. As Lady Sanders, Miranda could ensure a better life for her mother as well as herself. But Mark was killed just before the wedding—the day her mother suffered a paralyzing stroke. Jaime Knevett, the new heir, suggested a way out of Miranda's dilemma. But Miranda had destested him for years and it was with reluctance that she agreed to marry him. Then, after the ceremony, she found herself deserted.