Ana María Bailon believes her heart is as shattered as the burning city she flees. Once bold and brilliant in her father’s war councils, she now carries a secret child and a soul scorched by the siege of San Sebastián. When an English captain offers a hurried marriage and safe passage to a foreign land, Ana wonders if she is walking toward healing or a new form of heartbreak. Captain Peter Ashmore lives with memories that stalk him like smoke from a burning town. Honor compels him into a marriage of convenience, yet every glance from his Spanish bride stirs a longing he fears he does not deserve. As they travel to his English estate and step into a world of drawing rooms and whispered judgments, Peter grapples with guilt, desire, and a God he worries has turned away. In the quiet rooms of Abbeygate, Ana starts to trust the gentle man beneath the scarlet uniform, but nightmares, secrets, and grief threaten every fragile step. Peter feels himself falling for the courageous woman he vowed to shield, even as the truth of her past and his role in the siege loom over them both. Can Ana and Peter confront the ruin behind them and choose a love that rebuilds what war tried to destroy?
Storymakers
