Books like The Unknown Heart by Barbara Cartland

In 1902, Virginia Clay, a wealthy and plump young woman whose mother, the widow of an American millionaire, controls her every move, finds her life turned on its head when the handsome and noble Sebastian Ryll, future Duke of Camberford, proposes. His primary motivation is the two million dollars her mother has offered, and Virginia quickly realizes he intends to marry her for money rather than love. Desperate to avoid a marriage of convenience, she rejects him, yet soon finds herself at the altar, bound to a tall, dark, cynical stranger who has captured her heart. After a dramatic collapse and a year of recovery that leaves her slim and stunning, Virginia decides to seek a divorce from the man she barely knows. She travels incognito to the Duke’s ancestral home, only to uncover that the man she wed is not what she expected. The revelation sparks the beginning of a dangerous intrigue and a secret romance, setting the stage for an unexpected love that defies expectations.

First publish date: 1969