Though only 40, newly widowed Olivia, Duchess of Brandhurst, has already spent more than half her life in a horrible marriage. She'd been trapped for 22 years by a cruel combination of fear and society's expectations in a stifling facade of Victorian respectability that hid her husband's unfaithfulness and unspeakable desires. But Olivia's widowhood hides its own secrets. It seems that she alone realizes that the duke was murdered. And she is astounded by the intensity of her passionate response to Will Barnes, the handsome artist who'd come to design her husband's funeral plot. She knows that an alliance between a gardener's son and a highborn lady is unthinkable. But, when Olivia's freedom is threatened after the duke's murder comes to light, Will is her only hope. Despite whatever heartbreak their reunion might bring, Will must find a way to set Olivia free from her past, whether or not she chooses afterward to make The Duchess' Lover her own true love.