The Mask of the Enchantress — Victoria Holt

MATELANDS LIVED DANGEROUSLY AND I WAS A MATELAND. I KNEW I WAS GOING TO ATTEMPT THIS OUTRAGEOUS MASQUERADE. I KNEW IT WAS WRONG, BUT I HAD TO DO IT.

From the moment young Suewellyn caught her first glimpse of the Mateland family castle, she knew she wanted to possess it. Desperately. But how could the beautiful illegitimate child, hidden away from respectable society by her parents, ever aspire to such a dream? The answer lay in a perilous deception.

Her masquerade succeeded -- too well. Too late, Suewellyn learned the true character of the woman she had chosen to become. Caught in a web of her own creation, she found herself faced with a final, desperate choice -- risk losing the man she loved, or face the terrifying chance that she would be trapped forever by the tragedy that haunted every Mateland bride....