The House of Kingsley Merrick (Kingsland Book 2)

As a boy, Kingsley Merrick is taunted by his social betters at the Academy. As a young man, he is ostracized by the establishment of Waterford, seeking retribution for the humiliations he has endured. Part of his plan includes marriage to his cousin. Julia Merrick is imprisoned by her middle-class upbringing, and looks to Brahmin Boston for relief. Gradually insinuating herself into Beacon Hill society, her dream founders on the shoals of snobbery, and her virgin purity is besmirched by an alluring scion of wealth -- just as her family is threatened with financial ruin in the panic of 1857. Julia can save them all by marrying Kingsley, on his way home from Australia, but at what a price! There will be no escape from what she now knows about men, and she also knows the marital relation will break her spirit. As indeed it does, until she brings her husband to heel with a scheme that will free her to create an elite, Brahmin-like society right there in Waterford and at the same time keep him out of her bedroom. And so it is that Kingsley Merrick turns to Angelina Bradley....