She takes a nanny job to outrun her past. He's the widowed recluse who built his life on rules. One snowbound estate, two little girls who need laughter—and a line neither of them is supposed to cross.

When twenty-six-year-old Emery Blake steps through the iron gates of the Thorne Estate, she finds more than lesson plans and bedtime routines. The house hums with ghosts; the housekeeper polices every move; and upstairs waits Elias Thorne—brilliant, guarded, and determined to keep his daughters safe and his heart closed. Emery's sunshine steadies the girls, but it also burns through Elias's defenses: shared cocoa by the fire becomes midnight conversations, a stolen kiss in the library becomes a choice that could cost Emery her job and the only family she's ever wanted.

As winter deepens, old wounds reopen, an unwelcome past returns, and desire threatens the careful order of the Thorne household. To claim a future, Emery and Elias must risk the rules, the rumors, and the shadows—proving that love can thaw even the coldest house and remake a family from the cracks. Grumpy-sunshine, age gap, single-dad heat with a heart—perfect for readers who crave angst, tenderness, and a fiercely earned happily-ever-after.