Ink and Sea Lavender

She walks straight to his desk-and asks him to reckon with her past.Wounded at Corunna, Tobias Quennell now copies entries at the Cowes Custom House for sixty pounds a year. He does not dance. He avoids company on his walks. It is easier to keep to himself than ask anyone to match his slow, careful pace.Then Lady Caroline Pryor returns to the Isle of Wight.An earl's daughter and a widow, Caroline is also the woman whose smuggled lace nearly ruined his family. On Midsummer Day, she approaches his desk with an extraordinary request: she wishes to pay the duty on her own wedding veil.By evening, Tobias has a more urgent debt to consider.Someone has secretly bought the mortgage on his family's livelihood-and called it in.The salterns, oyster lays, and creek frontage that sustain Sea Lavender House are at risk. The new mortgage holder refuses to give a name.Caroline knows London attorneys. Tobias knows ink, dates, and the small discrepancies people hope a quiet clerk will overlook. Together, they follow a paper trail someone has taken considerable trouble to conceal.But their growing closeness invites a different kind of scrutiny. A Customs clerk accepting an earl's daughter's help is easily accused of accepting payment. Her brother has a baron in mind for her. And during the Cowes yachting season, every dance-and every walk-is noticed.For a woman tired of being ornamental, Tobias's attention means more than any ballroom compliment. For a man accustomed to being left behind, Caroline's willingness to match his pace is harder to dismiss than he expected.Saving his family's home will take patience and ingenuity. Allowing himself to hope for her may take greater courage still.Ink and Sea Lavender is a tender, witty Regency romance featuring a wounded former soldier, a determined widow, and a gentle mystery rooted in family loyalty and hidden debt. Set on the Isle of Wight in 1817, Book Four of The Sea Lavender Saga can be enjoyed on its own. Clean and wholesome, with no explicit content and a happy ending assured.