The Duchess of Ash and Roses by L Foster

To save her family from ruin, Lady Elara Vane enters a marriage of convenience with Julian Ashford, a former servant who has inherited a crumbling estate. What begins as a transaction to protect her name becomes a dangerous journey into a house full of locked rooms, hidden evidence, and a buried truth about her fatherʼs crimes. As desire grows between them, so does the threat of someone determined to keep the past buried. When the estate is set ablaze and the evidence nearly destroyed, Elara must choose between protecting her father and exposing the truth—even if it costs her everything. The Duchess of Ash and Roses is a dark historical gothic romance of forbidden desire, class conflict, moral courage, and a love story built on truth rather than convenience.