The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband by Julia Quinn

This predates the Bridgerton books and deal with their neighbors, back in the olden days.

Cecilia goes alone to the Colonies to find her brother in the middle of a certain war. Instead she ends up caring for his friend Edward.

I liked Cecilia, she had lost her friend, her cousin was an ass and she set out alone. And sure telling people that she had married Edward was not the best thing to do. But it was the only way they would let her near him. And to continue, well it was the only way to learn of her brother.

And since they fall in love all is forgiven.

Eward was a cutie!

Good good. I am makin it short today

With her brother Thomas injured on the battlefront in the Colonies, orphaned Cecilia Harcourt has two unbearable choices: move in with a maiden aunt or marry a scheming cousin. Instead, she chooses option three and travels across the Atlantic, determined to nurse her brother back to health. But after a week of searching, she finds not her brother but his best friend, the handsome officer Edward Rokesby. He's unconscious and in desperate need of her care, and Cecilia vows that she will save this soldier's life, even if staying by his side means telling one little lie...

I told everyone I was your wife

When Edward comes to, he's more than a little confused. The blow to his head knocked out six months of his memory, but surely he would recall getting married. He knows who Cecilia Harcourt is—even if he does not recall her face—and with everyone calling her his wife, he decides it must be true, even though he'd always assumed he'd marry his neighbor back in England.

If only it were true...

Cecilia risks her entire future by giving herself—completely—to the man she loves. But when the truth comes out, Edward may have a few surprises of his own for the new Mrs. Rokesby. 

Mass Market Paperback, 374 pages

Published May 30th 2017 by Avon

Series: Rokesbys #2

Historical romance

Own