The Viscount’s Counterfeit Bride: a Slow-burn Regency Romance of Duty, Deception, and a Love That Defied the Ton Silverthorn Abbey Series Book

# The Viscount’s Counterfeit Bride A slow – burn Regency romance about duty, deception, and love defying the ton. Eleanor Winters, a penniless vicar’s daughter, long knew her low prospects. Resigned to a life of servitude in a cold relative’s home, her days were filled with gray mornings and silent dinners. That changed with a mysterious letter from Silverthorn Abbey in Essex, offering a strange job: be a companion to a reclusive young lady. The master of Silverthorn, Alexander Blackwood, Viscount Blackwood, was far from welcoming. Alexander, a man of secrets, faced ruin. Six years after a carriage accident killed his parents and left his sister Charlotte dangerously frail, Silverthorn was crumbling, finances were in shambles due to a bad investment binding him to a shadowy lender. His only hope was an arranged marriage to a wealthy widow he loathed, or finding an irreproachable bride to extend a crucial loan and protect Charlotte. When Eleanor, with her sharp tongue and innocent green eyes, arrived at his rain – lashed doorstep, he saw a potential counterfeit. He offered a devil’s bargain: pretend to be his fiancée until Charlotte’s surgery, then leave with enough money to disappear. Eleanor initially refused, aware of the cost of lies due to her own past full of false dignity and a dangerous secret. However, the desperation at Silverthorn and the reappearance of a ruthless creditor, who once tried to claim her virtue, made her realize the viscount’s protection could be her sanctuary, and her masquerade his salvation. Bound by a mistrusted contract, they entered the glittering yet hypocritical world of Regency London ballrooms and country drawing rooms. Their arrangement led to constant friction. Deportment lessons saw his cool correction meet her smothered anger. In candlelit libraries, the line between pretense and longing blurred. Forced proximity became torment. A storm trapped them in a derelict lodge, where they shared truths. At a society dance, Alexander’s jealousy was clear as suitors surrounded Eleanor. A clandestine kiss in a moonlit conservatory made the contract dangerously real. Yet, the ton’s whispers were a threat. Lady Penelope Sutcliffe, a glamorous and vindictive widow, obsessed over Silverthorn and its bloodline, saw Eleanor as an obstacle and used scandal – sheets against her. Captain Jasper Crane, the debt – collector who had pursued Eleanor, added to the trouble. Their actions shattered Eleanor’s false identity, exposing Alexander’s financial ruin and Eleanor’s past. In this crisis, they had to choose between self – preservation and a sacrifice that meant surrendering pride, breaking emotional armor, and making a public declaration that could either redeem or ruin them. Set in Regency Essex, this romance is filled with classic tensions like class divide, family legacy, secrets, and forced proximity. From their rainy first meeting to their vows under Silverthorn’s oaks, Alexander and Eleanor learned that true strength came from standing together, unmasked and unafraid. This novel starts a new series in a world of hidden family truths, where love demands the impossible. Ideal for fans of Mimi Matthews and Georgette Heyer, it offers a deeply emotional happy – ending and sets the stage for the next Blackwood legacy tale.