“Pawns” is a dark historical romance novella of 25,400 words set in 1820s Jamaica, where three plantation dynasties wage war through marriage beds and blood feuds. This forbidden love story delivers a love triangle between two sisters and the man they both want, a marriage of convenience that becomes something far more dangerous, and a hero who must choose between honor and the only woman he has ever loved. Readers who crave lush settings, brutal family politics, and stolen moments in the dark will find themselves trapped in this world.

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Victoria Ashworth has spent her life protecting her younger sister Virginia—softer, sweeter, and their father's favorite. When Victoria meets Damerian Marlowe beneath a silk cotton tree at dusk, the attraction is instant and devastating. But Damerian has been promised to Virginia. Victoria does the honorable thing: she lets him go.

Damerian refuses to accept the arrangement. He asks Victoria to help him break the engagement. She refuses. He cancels it anyway, humiliating Virginia before both families. Then he confesses the truth in a pimento grove where the spice scent clings like a secret: he wants Victoria, not her sister.

But Victoria will not be the cause of Virginia's unhappiness. She pushes Damerian toward her sister and accepts a proposal from another man—Lucian, a merchant's son who offers safety if not passion. Damerian, broken by her refusal, agrees to marry Virginia after all. Both believe they have done the honorable thing. Both are wrong.

Because Virginia has been meeting with Marcellus Marche, the villain whose family has been losing ground to the Ashworths for twenty years. He promised her everything if she helped him destroy Victoria. And Virginia said yes.

Now Victoria is trapped between duty and desire, between a sister who is not what she seems and a man who has spent years choosing honor over love. Marcellus is closing in. The wedding to Lucian is approaching. And Damerian is running out of time to claim the woman he loves before the villain's plan takes her away forever...

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Pawns delivers the forbidden longing, brutal family politics, and emotional devastation that dark romance readers crave. This is not a story of simple villains and innocent victims. The sister is wicked beneath her sweet smile. The heroine sacrifices herself for a woman who does not deserve her loyalty. The hero must choose between honor and the only love that has ever felt real. Add a marriage of convenience that becomes a trap, stolen meetings in jungle shadows, and a dream confession that changes everything. The lush Jamaican setting—sugar mills, rum distilleries, moonlit caves—becomes a character itself. If you want a romance that haunts you, do not let this one pass you by.

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• Free Sample

• Pawns. Part 1

• Pawns. Part 2