The Vow He Kept in His Second Life

Vivienne Norton lives with the Nortons, who adopted her, and paints canvases that go out under the name of their own daughter. Her adoptive father keeps up a steady line about what she is worth. She was born a Nolan, into money, before the Nortons took her in. The Nortons want to marry into power. They drug Vivienne and arrange the room, and the man she ends up spending the night with is Adrian Leighton, heir to the largest family fortune in the region. Adrian likes her temper. He calls her a little wildcat, has her background looked into, and comes away impressed by the painting and by how much she has put up with. Vivienne finds out what the Nortons have been doing to her and how long it has been going on. She decides to take the family's cover off in public. Adrian offers to help and she pushes his hand away. "At the competition, I'll let everyone see what the Nortons are." The competition puts the spotlight on the Norton daughter who has been signing Vivienne's work.