For attendees to the Ashland Public Library Event with authors Shana Galen and Mimi Matthews on August 4, the authors will be signing bookplates for every book ordered through Aesop's Fable.

A desperate heiress. A jaded former soldier. They've got twenty-one days to fall in love...or risk losing everything.

Twenty-one days. A measly three weeks. That's all the time Bianca Featherswallow is allowed to convince Theo Filliol to marry her. If she doesn't marry in three weeks, Bianca will once again be prey to fortune hunters who are eager to abduct her for her dowry. Theo was hired as her protector, and somehow she needs to convince the man to consider her for his wife. If only he wasn't so attractive. How is she supposed to woo him when she's tongue-tied and her heart thunders every time he's near?

Theophile Filliol, younger son of an earl, doesn't think he can protect anyone-least of all an heiress. He's literally been gambling and drinking for weeks to forget the failures of his past. Considering the debt he's racked up, he can't ignore Mrs. Dove-Lyon's orders to play bodyguard to Bianca Featherswallow. At least the Black Widow isn't trying to marry him off. The lovely Bianca would make any man a happy groom, but Theo isn't the kind of man she needs.

As dangers abound, from storms to fortune hunters to the pair's own sensual desires, will twenty-one days be enough time to fall in love? And even if Theo falls for Bianca, can he trust himself with her heart?

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Independently Published (February 12, 2025)
• ISBN-13: 979-8309719105