Tormented by his past and by vile rumours, will this Regency Othello allow a trusted liar to destroy the love between himself and his wife? Nothing will stop Colonel Lionel O'Toole from leading his men on the invasion into Spain. Not the abducted heiress he rescues and makes his wife, nor old secrets that radically change his place in his family, nor the ill health of the earl his grandfather. But his devotion to duty might be derailed by the spy in his inner circle and vile rumours about his wife. Will the love between Lion and Dorothea endure, or will deceit and betrayal tear them apart?

An accident brings them together. Will a scandal tear them apart? Bear Gavenor has retired from war and built a business restoring abandoned country manors to sell to the newly rich. He’d like to settle in one himself and raise a family, but the marriage mart is full of harpies like his mother. Rosa Neatham’s war is just starting. Penniless and evicted from her home, she despairs of being able to care for her invalid father. When she returns to her former home to pick his favourite flower, she is injured in a fall. Bear, the new occupant of the cottage, offers shelter to her and her father. When scandal erupts, he offers more. He wants a family. She needs a protector. A marriage of convenience will suit them both, and perhaps grow to be more. When secrets, self-doubts, and old feuds threaten to destroy their budding relationship, can they grasp the thorn of scandal to gather the rose of love? \[ this book is a rewrite of House of Thorns, which is no longer in publication.\]