The Lion and the Willow

Description

The contract sat on Lucia’s desk like a dare she hadn’t dared to take—a promise bound in ink and ribbons, and a wound that refused to heal. Once, she believed Jamie’s vow that signing meant he “didn’t trust she was already his.” Now, three years after fleeing Paris with nothing but a suitcase full of regrets, Lucia has built a life on her own terms—as Esme’s mother, strong, fiercely independent, and determined never to let love cost her everything again.

But the past has its own gravity.

When Lucia’s lawyer calls to arrange a routine shared-custody weekend, old questions she’d sworn were solved surge back: Why did Jamie leave without a word? What really happened in that hotel suite that December night? And why does his name still echo in her quietest moments—stirring heartbeats and hopes she thought buried?

As Lucia watches Esme’s eyes light up at Jamie’s knock on the door, she feels that familiar rush of betrayal and longing entwined. Every memory flickers—Parisian rain slicking narrow streets, candlelit dinners dissolving into silence, the contract slid across a mahogany table like a verdict. She must decide: Is love worth risking her daughter’s security? Can she trust the man who once broke her heart to make amends? Or will signing his newest proposal only bind her to fresh pain?

In the dazzling backdrop of Europe’s grandest hotels and the soft warmth of Lucia’s Provençal kitchen, Lion and Willow Tree unfolds as an intimate exploration of trust and forgiveness. With each page, Laura Carpenter crafts:

• A heroine whose resilience is forged in heartbreak and hard-won independence

• A hero haunted by his own mistakes, desperate to prove redemption is more than a promise on paper

• A daughter caught between two worlds, whose laughter and tears hold the power to heal or destroy

• A sweeping emotional arc that spans jet-lagged reunions, stolen kisses in moonlit gardens, and the quiet courage of ordinary days

This is a story of second chances, of learning that sometimes the bravest act of all is letting someone in. It asks: What do we owe the people we once loved—and can the ink on a contract ever truly measure a vow of the heart?

“A moving portrait of loss and hope—Carpenter’s finest work yet.”
—Romance Today

Paperback and hardcover editions coming soon.

Visit www.lauracarpenterbooks.com for author news, bonus scenes, and upcoming releases.