Shifting Hearts

Clara Lawson is a merchant's daughter. When she marries the heir of the Howe Marquisate she takes it for a stroke of luck. Her husband treats her as if she were not in the room from the first day, and two years into the marriage he has never once touched her. He wants the title, and the household is split over who will get it. His elder brother is reported to have died in an accident. In fact the brother is alive, hidden somewhere out of sight, and from there he watches what the family does next. Clara does not know this. On the day of the death her husband starts pressing his brother's widow to grow closer to him, with the plan of taking her in as his wife. Clara tells him that since he wants to change wives, she will change husbands. She begins looking for a new one and sets about getting her standing back on her own.