Garden of May

Vanessa’s inheritance, upon the death of her parents, was a mountain of debt and an arranged marriage.

Her greedy uncle had eagerly sold her off to be an ageing Count’s latest bride.

To break the engagement, she needed a scandal.

A truly dreadful, utterly ruinous scandal.

***

“Vanessa.”

“….”

“Is life so tedious?” he drawled, incredulous.

“That you’d waste it entangled with the likes of me?”