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Cruel Devotion: A Dark Political Romance (The Ashcombe Files Book 2)
Paperback
Series: The Ashcombe Files, Book 2
Currently unavailable to order
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Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 606
Weight: 1.59
Height: 1.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
I read rooms for a living. I know what men look like when they're calculating what my body and my time are worth.
Edward Ashcombe didn't hide his arithmetic.
He's Simon's cousin. The other Ashcombe. The one who smiles where Simon stares, who opens doors where Simon closes them. He's running for Parliament, and he needs a story the voters can love - a Polish, working-class NHS nurse whose warmth can make his ruthless ambition look like compassion.
He told me exactly how he intended to use me.
And I still let him unhook my dress in the dark.
I watched my best friend marry into this family. I watched her choose a man who took her life apart and rebuilt it around himself. I swore I would never be that woman. I swore I was smarter, sharper, better defended by work and faith and common sense.
Then Edward found the exact places where I wanted to be seen and built a campaign around them. Every door he opened was real. Every introduction was genuine. Every time he said they'll follow you, he meant it. He also meant to use it. And by the time I understood that his ambition and his desire were the same thing, I had already crossed a line I was trained to hold sacred.
I thought I was walking in with my eyes open.
I was. That's what makes it unforgivable.
The terrifying part isn't that Edward Ashcombe weaponised my warmth to win a seat in Parliament. The terrifying part is that when he finally handed me the knife, I found out I liked the taste of power and the taste of him.
Cruel Devotion is a dark, high-heat political romance set in the ruthless world of English aristocracy and Westminster politics. Book 2 in The Ashcombe Files. Can be read as a standalone. If you love the psychological warfare of L.J. Shen, the slow-burn tension of Danielle Lori, and the elite manipulation of Rina Kent, this is your next obsession.
- Architectural control - he doesn't lock her in; he builds a world she doesn't want to leave
- Public restraint, private obsession - the tension is in every glance, and the payoff is scorching
- Ambitious politician hero / NHS nurse heroine
- She watched her best friend choose a dangerous man - then chose one herself
- British aristocracy meets Westminster politics
- He told her exactly what he was. She stayed for coffee.
- Class warfare as foreplay - Polish immigrant meets old English money
- Touch her and I will ruin your career
- Cerebral slow-burn - his weapons are charm, belonging, and patience
- She crossed a professional line she can never uncross
- A good woman who discovered she was brilliant at dark things
- Possessive, morally dark hero who doesn't get redeemed
- Forced proximity - campaign trail, country estates, borrowed rooms
- Slow burn to scorching
- Connected to Cruel Grace but reads standalone
- HEA guaranteed
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