Stepping Across the Desert by Kat Caldwell

Rowena Brayemore never planned to come home this way.

Taken from the Algerian port at fourteen years old, she spent five years as a slave in the household of a powerful man before finding an unlikely escape with Christopher Sutton, the Marquess of Candor. She arrives in England with the clothes on her back, a breathtaking voice, and scars she will never fully explain. She expected freedom. She did not expect London.

The ton whispers. The gossip columns publish lies. And Rowena’s cousin John is determined to exploit her ruined reputation to force her into a loveless marriage she cannot refuse. Meanwhile, Christopher wages his own quiet war, a man bound by duty and title who cannot stop thinking about the woman he brought home, the woman who stands her ground against every person who tries to break her, the woman who is far braver than anyone in his glittering world will ever know.
As scandal threatens to destroy everything Rowena has fought to rebuild, she must choose between the safety of invisibility and the terrifying possibility of being truly seen. And Christopher must decide whether love is worth the price society will demand he pay. Set against the sweeping landscapes of Victorian England and the sun-scorched deserts of Algeria, Stepping Across the Desert is a breathtaking story of survival, redemption, and the fierce, unstoppable power of love.

Category: Historical Romance