The Unwanted Marriage

The Unwanted Marriage, the first book in the Windsor series, follows the slow-burning romance between Dion Windsor, a 32-year-old billionaire heir, and Faye Matthews, a 22-year-old concert pianist who have been engaged since childhood through an arrangement made by their late mothers. Dion's grandmother, Anne Windsor, the family matriarch, sets the terms: The couple must remain faithfully married for a minimum of three years, and Faye's father receives two million dollars for each year the marriage lasts, up to six million.

When Grandma Anne announces the wedding will take place in six months, Dion is overwhelmed with guilt and dread. He has spent years avoiding Faye, partly because of their 10-year age gap and partly because he believes he caused the plane crash that killed his parents and Faye's mother. At 12, he begged them to return early from a business trip in London for his piano concert; they died on that flight. His sister Sierra suggests that making Faye happy could be his path to absolution, but Dion fears a darker part of him wants to possess Faye rather than atone.

Faye's life is defined by her father's cruelty. Jimmy Matthews has physically abused Faye since she was eight, choking her and threatening to hurt her stepmother, Abigail, and her younger half sisters, Linda and Chloe, if Faye disobeys. He has engineered every facet of Faye's identity, from her career as a pianist to her college major, to complement Dion. Faye has been secretly dating Eric, a young lawyer who works for the Windsor family, and plans to end things because Dion is returning to the United States. First, she agrees to one final date with Eric at a Windsor-owned hotel, intending to give him her virginity as a last act of personal choice.

Dion arrives at the hotel on unrelated business and spots Faye and Eric heading toward the elevators. He confronts them; Eric, unaware of the engagement, introduces Faye as his girlfriend. Faye has a panic attack, and Dion instinctively comforts her. He gives her an ultimatum: end the engagement or end things with Eric. Faye has no power to break the engagement and agrees to cut ties with Eric immediately.

Dion pursues Faye with new intensity, attending one of her concerts for the first time and visiting her dressing room afterward. A subplot reveals his capacity for calculated cruelty: With help from his friend Xavier Kingston and head of security Silas Sinclair, he coerces Hannah, the estranged sister of his brother Ares's wife Raven, into servitude for manipulating the family. Dion's four brothers and Sierra stage a humorous intervention, with his brother Lexington presenting a slideshow on how to win Faye over, establishing the close-knit Windsor family dynamic.

Faye's situation worsens. After tabloid photos surface showing Dion with his secretary Maria, Jimmy attacks Chloe in front of Faye, blaming Faye for failing to keep Dion's attention. At the annual Windsor charity gala, however, Dion and Faye share their first real evening of connection: He holds her hand publicly, dances with her, and assures her the photos were innocent. Grandma Anne then brings Faye to help decorate Dion's house on the estate, which becomes Faye's first exercise of personal choice.

A family trip to Hawaii brings them closer. Dion's severe fear of flying, rooted in his parents' crash, surfaces on the plane, and Faye silently calms him. That evening, he confesses his feelings go beyond lust, and they share their first kiss. The next morning, Dion overhears Faye telling Eric on the phone that she is being forced into the marriage. Furious, he hurls her phone into the ocean. They reconcile days later, and Faye commits to leaving the past behind.

As the wedding approaches, Jimmy chokes Faye and orders her to get pregnant to trap Dion past the three-year term. The demand taints her growing feelings. When Dion returns early from a trip and finds her playing the piano until her fingers bleed, he comforts her, but she cannot explain her despair. She discovers and restores Dion's mother's concert grand piano, delivered by Grandma Anne, and it becomes the heart of the house.

On the wedding morning, Sierra and Raven clear Faye's dismissive family from the room and present her with the simpler gown she secretly admired. At the reception, Eric reveals the contract only requires three years, implying Faye can eventually leave. Enraged, Dion carries Faye out hours early. On their wedding night, he establishes a safe-word system and repeatedly checks her consent. The next morning, he discovers Faye was a virgin and is devastated he was not more careful.

Warmth develops in the early weeks. Grandma Anne gives Faye leadership of the Windsor Staccato Foundation, a music education charity co-founded by their late mothers. Over dinner in London, Faye reveals she became a pianist only because her father forced her, shocking Dion. He confronts Jimmy about embezzling her concert income, and Chloe later reveals the entire family knowingly lived off Faye's stolen earnings. Dion deepens their bond by giving Faye a photograph of her mother found in old family albums, the first image Faye has seen of her in years.

When Sierra, Raven, and Valentina, Dion's brother Luca's wife, visit, Sierra is shaken to see her mother's piano. She explains that Dion could never bear the sound of a piano after their parents' death and that Faye's playing represents healing none of his siblings could achieve. At a concert, Eric reappears and sends Faye roses; Dion finds her with the bouquet and responds with possessive intensity. The encounter ends with Eric witnessing Faye's unmistakable commitment to Dion. Back home, both confess they are falling in love.

After weeks of trust, Faye reveals the full truth about Jimmy's violence. Dion wants to eliminate her father, but Faye begs him not to. His four brothers and Silas insist on handling retribution themselves: They beat Jimmy and destroy his mines, staging the incident as a robbery. Faye visits her father's house one last time, severs ties with her family, and claims her identity as Faye Windsor.

Dion confesses to Faye that he caused the crash by begging their parents to fly home early. Faye tells him he was a child and is not to blame. The peace is tested when Grandma Anne, fearing she trapped Faye, offers to allow a divorce. Separately, Maria admits her feelings for Dion; he gently rejects her, and she resigns. Dion is terrified that given a genuine choice, Faye may not choose him.

After discovering Faye has been secretly visiting a cottage she purchased as a safe space, Dion is hurt by her secrecy. He has divorce papers drawn up, signs them, and tells Faye she deserves to discover who she is without him. Faye refuses to sign, but Dion moves out. Faye travels alone through Europe, experiencing freedom for the first time but finding it empty without Dion. Unknown to her, Dion follows across Europe despite his fear of flying, even planting a piano for her to find in a Berlin train station.

When Faye's plane lands in the United States, Dion sees Eric waiting with red roses. Believing she has chosen Eric, Dion walks away. But Faye comes home and tells him she spoke 28 words to Eric: She is still married, intends to stay that way, and chooses Dion. They reconcile, and Dion vows never to let her go again.

On the Hawaiian beach where they first kissed, Dion proposes with his mother's antique engagement ring. Faye says yes. In a final dream, his mother tells him the flight was always their scheduled one and his guilt was misplaced; Silas confirms no alternate flight plans existed. His mother also directs him to her golden locket containing a photo of Faye's mother, which Dion gives to Faye before a benefit concert for the Staccato Foundation. In the preceding weeks, Faye had coaxed Dion back to the piano, and at the concert he plays publicly for the first time in over 20 years. The novel closes with Dion reflecting that Faye was the wife he never wanted but cannot imagine life without, and that their broken pieces form the foundation on which they are building the rest of their lives.

A subplot seeds the next book in the series: Dion's brother Zane, emotionally volatile and haunted by his breakup with Celeste Harrison, learns at a family dinner that Grandma Anne has arranged for him to marry Celeste in three weeks.