West Country beauty Hannah Heywood may be quiet with fashionable strangers, but when it comes to animals in need, she has no trouble finding her voice. Newly arrived in Bath for her very first season, all she desires is to find one like-minded gentleman. A man of warmth and compassion, as sensitive to animals as he is to people. But if such a man exists, he dare not approach her. Not with the tall, blond, and menacing Viscount St. Clare standing in the way.
James Beresford, Viscount St. Clare has often been described as a sentient block of ice. A man so cold and dispassionate, he would never suit a young lady of Hannahโs disposition. And she would certainly never suit him. Focused on repairing his familyโs infamous reputation, James requires a diamond of the first water. The daughter of a duke or a marquess, at least, not a simple country girl with a passion for four-legged creatures.
And yet, thereโs something about conscience-driven young Hannah that draws James, first to Bath, and then into one increasingly hare-brained scheme after another. She confounds him at every turn, subverting his expectations and threatening to do what no lady has succeeded in doing beforeโthawing his ice-cold heart.
USA Todayย bestselling authorย Mimi Matthewsย writes both historical nonfiction and award-winning Victorian romances. Her novels have received starred reviews inย Publishers Weekly,ย Library Journal,ย Booklist,ย Kirkus, andย Shelf Awareness,ย and her articles have been featured on theย Victorian Web, theย Journal of Victorian Culture, and in syndication atย BUST Magazine. In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage horse, a Sheltie, and two Siamese cats.