This is the second book in the popular Gentleman Spy Mysteries --
read this as a standalone or look for the first book, The Innkeeper's
Daughter!
Sir Henry, secret agent to the crown, must marry a lady above reproach
to afford his illegitimate daughter entrance into society. After
narrowly escaping marriage to a highborn bigot, he takes an assignment
in Brighton, leading him to an abandoned abbey full of dark whispers,
and a sinister secret society, the very one Henry has been investigating
for three years.
Isabella is as beautiful as she is talented, but falling in love isn't
part of her plans. She only wants to paint, forget her painful past, and
keep her overbearing mother at bay. But gaining one's independence isn't
easy for a woman in 1823, so Isabella embarks on a fake courtship with
Sir Henry. Soon, love and a painting career no longer seem so utterly
incompatible.
But when the man Isabella fears most kidnaps her, all appears lost.
Realizing the kidnapper is part of the same organization he is
investigating, Henry chases after them. Entrapped in a web of secrets,
both Henry and Isabella must face old enemies, and fight for their
happily ever after.
The third book in the The Gentleman Spy Mysteries, The Memory
of Her, is coming in April 2022.