Behind the mask lies the man she once loved.
Scarred by the Napoleonic Wars and shunned by his aristocratic family, Colonel John Banks lives hidden away in a crumbling Westmorland manor, his only companions a staff of fellow outcasts. Haunted by memories of the life—and the woman—he lost, he keeps his face behind a mask and his heart under lock and key.
Matilda Peverly has fallen from grace and fled the privileged world she once knew. With nowhere else to turn, she accepts a post as maid-of-all-work at the eerie Bleakmore Manor. The master’s secrecy and hidden face should alarm her, but she is too weighed down by her own secrets to care.
Neither expects the shock of recognition: she is the woman he once loved and lost; he is the man who broke her heart. Now, forced into proximity, old wounds reopen even as old desires rekindle. But John fears the truth—that his disfigurement and past betrayal will drive Matilda away a second time.
Can love survive the scars of war and betrayal? Or will the revelations inside Bleakmore Manor destroy their second chance at happiness forever?
Genre: Historical Romance
Scarred by the Napoleonic Wars and shunned by his aristocratic family, Colonel John Banks lives hidden away in a crumbling Westmorland manor, his only companions a staff of fellow outcasts. Haunted by memories of the life—and the woman—he lost, he keeps his face behind a mask and his heart under lock and key.
Matilda Peverly has fallen from grace and fled the privileged world she once knew. With nowhere else to turn, she accepts a post as maid-of-all-work at the eerie Bleakmore Manor. The master’s secrecy and hidden face should alarm her, but she is too weighed down by her own secrets to care.
Neither expects the shock of recognition: she is the woman he once loved and lost; he is the man who broke her heart. Now, forced into proximity, old wounds reopen even as old desires rekindle. But John fears the truth—that his disfigurement and past betrayal will drive Matilda away a second time.
Can love survive the scars of war and betrayal? Or will the revelations inside Bleakmore Manor destroy their second chance at happiness forever?
Genre: Historical Romance