The spectre of a looming wedding. The blooming of a fragile bond.
Lady Lydia Cavendish did not expect her recently departed father to leave her everything. Yet what seems a miracle, offering freedom from her controlling brother Rupert’s whims, soon turns into a stranglehold. Because there’s one condition: she must get married first, with Rupert’s consent. And quickly, if Thornleigh Hall is to outlast its debts. As heiress, the responsibility for the estate rests heavy on her shoulders.
Assistant to the groundskeeper, Thomas Brooks, keeps to himself. More tolerated than accepted by the other staff, a life of tending flowers has been enough since his beloved sister departed for a brighter future in London. When he stumbles across an injured, distraught Lydia in the twilit forest, his only impulse is to help.
What begins as a chance meeting soon blooms into a delicate connection. As Lydia repays Thomas’s kindness by reading him his sister’s letters, something quiet grows in the stolen hours. But her impending nuptials to Rupert’s best friend loom large. Soon, both of them are caught inside a tangled and conflicted net. Between duty and attraction, safety and freedom, which will win out?
And is it truly worth risking it all for love?
Part of 'A Society of Scandal', a multi-author collaboration aiming to highlight the joy of reading historical romance and escaping to the past in this wondrous genre.
Genre: Historical Romance
Lady Lydia Cavendish did not expect her recently departed father to leave her everything. Yet what seems a miracle, offering freedom from her controlling brother Rupert’s whims, soon turns into a stranglehold. Because there’s one condition: she must get married first, with Rupert’s consent. And quickly, if Thornleigh Hall is to outlast its debts. As heiress, the responsibility for the estate rests heavy on her shoulders.
Assistant to the groundskeeper, Thomas Brooks, keeps to himself. More tolerated than accepted by the other staff, a life of tending flowers has been enough since his beloved sister departed for a brighter future in London. When he stumbles across an injured, distraught Lydia in the twilit forest, his only impulse is to help.
What begins as a chance meeting soon blooms into a delicate connection. As Lydia repays Thomas’s kindness by reading him his sister’s letters, something quiet grows in the stolen hours. But her impending nuptials to Rupert’s best friend loom large. Soon, both of them are caught inside a tangled and conflicted net. Between duty and attraction, safety and freedom, which will win out?
And is it truly worth risking it all for love?
Part of 'A Society of Scandal', a multi-author collaboration aiming to highlight the joy of reading historical romance and escaping to the past in this wondrous genre.
Genre: Historical Romance