She hides her heart behind a thick skin. He's the only one who sees right through it.

Lucy Sinclair Wilcott is a widow and the subject of public scorn. She knows her first marriage ruined her, and she couldn't remarry if she wanted to. A facade of bland kindness is the only thing that keeps her sane in the face of thinly-veiled tabloid insults. She wants nothing more than to save enough money to move to a cottage of her own to keep her sister safe from their father's poor judgment.

The Marquess of Thrale, a visitor to the Sinclair home, picks up on Lucy's emptiness, but he soon realizes it's an act. Everything he believes about the beautiful widow is wrong. She's a brilliant, amusing, and arousing woman of deep honor.

As Lucy's long-absent feelings of desire surge back, Lord Thrale must convince her that she's everything he wants in a lover, for the rest of his life.

A Notorious Ruin is the second book in the Sinclair Sisters saga, a series of Regency romance novels. If you like unpredictable plots, refreshing dynamics, and sensual attraction, then you'll love Carolyn Jewel's tale of passion.