A jilted lady. The earl who vanished without a word. One Christmas house party where they have to face each other once again.
Five years ago, Madeline Dawson gave her heart to the Earl of Ravensworth—and he took it with him when he disappeared from London without a single word. Now she's armored herself in wit and independence, sworn never to be that vulnerable again. So when John walks into his sister's Christmas house party—the one she was promised he would not attend—she has one plan: survive the holiday with her dignity intact.
But dignity is a poor defense against the man who still makes her pulse race with a single glance across a candlelit room.
John Liddell, Earl of Ravensworth, didn't leave because he stopped loving her. He left because a darkness he couldn't name—a persistent melancholy that consumed him after his best friend's death. He convinced himself she deserved better than a man who could barely survive his own mind. Five years and a journal full of unsent letters later, he's fought his way back to himself.
Now, trapped under the same roof as the woman he never stopped loving, he has one chance to bare everything. Even the parts that terrify him.
Snowball fights and stolen glances crack her defenses. Late-night confessions in firelit libraries ignite what neither can deny. But trust, once shattered, demands more than passion to rebuild—and Maddie isn't certain her heart can survive losing him twice.
A second chance Regency romance where mental health is met with honesty, banter cuts as deep as longing, and one earl's most private confession becomes the grandest gesture of all.
Tropes: Second Chance Romance · Christmas House Party · Forced Proximity · Hero with Depression · Grand Gesture · Jealousy · HEA
Heat Level: Explicit Tone: Angsty, Bantery, Emotionally Raw Series Type: Standalone Ending: HEA POV: Dual Third Person, Past Tense Content Notes: On-page depression, grief, explicit intimacy, hero's mental health journey Comp Authors: Scarlett Scott, Eva Leigh
Genre: Historical Romance
Five years ago, Madeline Dawson gave her heart to the Earl of Ravensworth—and he took it with him when he disappeared from London without a single word. Now she's armored herself in wit and independence, sworn never to be that vulnerable again. So when John walks into his sister's Christmas house party—the one she was promised he would not attend—she has one plan: survive the holiday with her dignity intact.
But dignity is a poor defense against the man who still makes her pulse race with a single glance across a candlelit room.
John Liddell, Earl of Ravensworth, didn't leave because he stopped loving her. He left because a darkness he couldn't name—a persistent melancholy that consumed him after his best friend's death. He convinced himself she deserved better than a man who could barely survive his own mind. Five years and a journal full of unsent letters later, he's fought his way back to himself.
Now, trapped under the same roof as the woman he never stopped loving, he has one chance to bare everything. Even the parts that terrify him.
Snowball fights and stolen glances crack her defenses. Late-night confessions in firelit libraries ignite what neither can deny. But trust, once shattered, demands more than passion to rebuild—and Maddie isn't certain her heart can survive losing him twice.
A second chance Regency romance where mental health is met with honesty, banter cuts as deep as longing, and one earl's most private confession becomes the grandest gesture of all.
Tropes: Second Chance Romance · Christmas House Party · Forced Proximity · Hero with Depression · Grand Gesture · Jealousy · HEA
Heat Level: Explicit Tone: Angsty, Bantery, Emotionally Raw Series Type: Standalone Ending: HEA POV: Dual Third Person, Past Tense Content Notes: On-page depression, grief, explicit intimacy, hero's mental health journey Comp Authors: Scarlett Scott, Eva Leigh
Genre: Historical Romance