She cannot afford scandal. He cannot forget her.

Nine years ago, Emma Darling chose duty—and lost everything for it. With her parents gone, her standing in ruins, and her dreams packed away, she has survived by becoming an unimposing companion to the kind, if meddlesome, Mrs. Buckley. It is not the life she imagined, but it is safe. Ordered. Predictable.

Until the last man she ever wished to face returns to Derbyshire.

Captain Owen Buckley comes home from India hardened by war, driven by purpose, and frustrated with injustice. And he has not forgotten Emma. Not the way she once made him hope. Not the way she still makes his pulse stumble.

Forced beneath the same roof, their shared past simmers in every corridor and unfinished room. When whispers begin to coil through the village, hinting at their growing familiarity, Emma knows scandal could cost her the last scrap of security she has left.

And without security, Emma has nothing.