The Marriage Contract

There's no place like home, but even ruby slippers won't get Clair Atherton there. For Clair, home is Fairlove, Virginia, and a Federal Era house built by her ancestors. Although the house still stands, it might as well be over the rainbow, because the man who owned it -- the man who let it fall to ruin -- is the same man who destroyed her parents. But sometimes even rich, evil men fail to get their way.... Nick Dylan's father was always manipulative. Still, it surprises Nick to learn that his father would try to control him from the grave. "Fall in love and marry." Or lose everything. If it weren't for his mother, Nick would simply walk away. Since he can't, he'll propose to Clair. She may hate him, his family, and all he stands for, but he does have something she wants. Her house. And her feelings for him guarantee that she won't want to stay married for a minute longer than she needs to.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Romance, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.