From a young age, Eloise’s delicate health forced her to abandon the glittering whirl of high society. Choosing peace over prestige, she settled in the quiet countryside village of Felthem, where she found contentment tending to Blissbury Manor at the request of her father’s friend. Her days were calm… until news arrived that a new caretaker would soon take over the estate—placing her in grave danger of exposure. Hidden within those walls was her most scandalous secret: a forbidden nude portrait she had painted of her dearest infatuation, Colonel Ryan Wilgrave. Determined to retrieve the painting before it’s discovered, Eloise slips into the manor—only to collide on the staircase with the new arrival himself. “You’ve never actually seen the model in person, have you, Miss Eloise? I can assure you—it’s not that small.” What should have been a single, mortifying encounter turns into a chain of fateful meetings. For this Ryan, infuriatingly real and undeniably magnetic, refuses to fade quietly into her life’s background. And before she can stop herself, Eloise is tumbling headlong into a passion she never thought possible…