Lord Blackwell's Promise (Larkhall Letters #5)

Never make a promise you cannot keep...

Margaret Lovell tries her best to love everyone, if only to make up for the fact that she loathes one man far more than she should, but no less than he deserves. After the young Earl of Blackwell accused her father of cheating and tricked him out of his fortune, she has despised him for causing their disgrace and lack of security. So when she learns that Lord Blackwell is on his deathbed, she cannot help but feel a lack of sympathy. With her family's financial situation worsening, she doesn't have time to think of anything else, especially the man who caused it.

Peter Trafford, Earl of Blackwell, has never had reason to evaluate his life before now. But with certain death looming before him, he is awakened to a sense of his guilt. When this strange desperation to repair all his wrongdoings comes over him, he does what any sensible man would: He writes a letter to Margaret Lovell, the daughter of the man whose reputation he singlehandedly destroyed. In the letter, he offers to marry her.

...And promises to die shortly after.

As his widow, Margaret would have an abundance of wealth and comfort, and he would be free of a small measure of his guilt. But promises—fickle as they are—have a way of breaking.