The Meaning of Love: 5 (Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Chronicles)

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens explores the strength of a fated love one that was left in abeyance when the protagonists were too young but that roars back to life when as adults they meet again. A lady ready and waiting to be deemed on the shelf has her transition into spinsterhood disrupted when the nobleman shed once thought she loved returns to London and fate and circumstance conspire to force them to discover what love truly is and what it means to them.What happens when a love left behind doesnt die?Melissa North had assumed that after eight years of not setting eyes on each other her youthful attraction to-or was it infatuation with?-Julian Delamere once Viscount Dagenham and now Earl of Carsely would have faded to nothing and gasped its last. Unfortunately during the intervening years shes failed to find any suitable suitor who measures up to her mark and is resigned to ending her days an old maid.Then she sees Julian across a crowded ballroom and he sees her and the intensity of their connection shocks her. She seizes the first chance that offers to flee only to discover shes jumped from the frying pan into the fire.Within twenty-four hours she and Julian are the newly engaged toast of the ton.Julian has never forgotten Melissa. Now having inherited the earldom he must marry and is determined to choose his own bride. Hed assumed that by now Melissa would be married to someone else but apparently not. Consequently hes not averse to the path Fate seems to be steering them down.And indeed as they discover enforced separation has made their hearts grow fonder and the attraction between them flares even more intensely.However its soon apparent that someone is intent on ensuring their married life is cut short in deadly fashion. Through a whirlwind courtship a massive ton wedding and finally blissful country peace they fend off increasingly dangerous potentially lethal threats until together they unravel the conspiracy thats dogged their heels and expose the villain behind it all.A classic historical romance laced with murderous intrigue. A novel arising from the Lady Osbaldestones Christmas Chronicles. A full-length historical romance of 127000 words.