New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh returns to the elegance
and sensuality of Regency England as she continues the enthralling story
of four remarkable women-friends and teachers at Miss Martin's School
for Girls. At the center of this spellbinding novel is Anne Jewell, a
teacher haunted by a scandalous past...until she meets a man who teaches
her the most important lesson of all: nothing is simple when it comes to
love....
She spies him in the deepening dusk of a Wales evening-a lone figure of
breathtaking strength and masculinity, his handsome face branded by a
secret pain. For single mother and teacher Anne Jewell, newly arrived
with her son at a sprawling estate in Wales on the invitation of an
influential friend, Sydnam Butler is a man whose sorrows-and
passions-run deeper than she could have ever imagined.
As steward of a remote seaside manor, Sydnam lives a reclusive existence
far from the pity and disdain of others. Yet almost from the moment Anne
first appears on the cliffs, he senses in this lovely stranger a kindred
soul, and between these two wary hearts, desire stirs. Unable to resist
the passion that has rescued them both from loneliness, Anne and Sydnam
share an afternoon of exquisite lovemaking. Now the unwed single mother
and war-scarred veteran must make a decision that could forever alter
their lives. For Sydnam, it is a chance to heal the pain of the past.
For Anne, it is the glorious promise of a future with the man who will
dare her to reveal her deepest secrets...before she can give him all her
heart.
