As the new custodian of the ancestral home, Treweham Hall, Tobias Cavendish-Blake soon discovers exactly what he’s inherited. Instant financial action is needed if the Hall is to survive the mounting debts it’s racking up. Adding insult to injury the family is forced to sell the Gate House on the estate to lottery winners Gary and Tracy Belcher β not the kind of neighbours Tobias was hoping for.
Megan Taylor inherits her grandmother’s country cottage in the village of Treweham and decides to make a fresh start there, taking a job at the local country pub.
When Megan meets Tobias, the attraction is clear, but she is determined to resist his charms, put off by his reputation and that of his best friends β the rakish Seamus Fox, son of a millionaire race horse trainer and dastardly jockey Dylan Delany. But Tobias is a hard man to resist…
This was a sweet story. The descriptions of the characters and the Cotswolds was very well done.
Megan learns two things. Her boyfriend is an ass and her Grandmother has died, leaving her cottage in the Cotswolds to her. A change of scene is just what she needs. Moving into her Grandmother’s cottage, she gets a job at the local pub, meets her neighbors and gets gobsmacked by the hunky Lord of the manor!
But is it Megan he wants or does she simply remind him of his dead fiancee?
I really enjoyed this story. The setting, the characters. There were some hilarious moments and some sad moments and a really big secret!
I have no problem recommending this book. What I had a problem with was the cover. What was the big Scandal? And who is the blonde? Where is that pool? Please stick another cover on this because it really deserves it! And hopefully we will get to see more of these characters! I can see this being a lovely series!
Netgalley/Aria
Exclusive Excerpt:
It was day break. A rosy, warm sunrise glowed over the vall
ey. Galloping through the
early morning mist, Tobias Cavendish-Blake finally slowed his h
orse to survey the
sight before him. Treweham Hall stood proud and majestic agai
nst the smooth, rolling
hills. The imposing building was made of sandstone with four co
rner turrets and
sturdy buttresses that gave it a castle-like appearance. Gothi
c windows with stained
glass twinkled in the sunlight. He sighed heavily: would it alway
s remain so resilient,
the fortress of his family?
That seemed dubious, going through the estate accounts. His fa
ther, the late Lord
Richard Cavendish-Blake, had looked after the place well
β
too well. All the
contingency funds had haemorrhaged, bled completely dry re
lentlessly maintaining
the upkeep of the Hall. The outgoings far outweighed the incom
ings. The payroll of
the staff alone made Tobias
β
eyes water, not to mention the colossal energy bills.
Tobias had suggested shutting down the many vast unused rooms, but
his mother
wouldn
β
t hear of it. Lady Cavendish-Blake had been sheltered by
her late husband,
leaving her totally oblivious to the fact that her home was a m
oney pit and the current
state of affairs could only be described as dire. As the
new custodian, it was down to
Tobias to keep the place running. He was responsible not only for
the staff, but the
village tenants too. Feeling the burden weighing down on his broad
shoulders, he
realised it was time to grow up. Time to settle down. The future
meant kissing
goodbye to the wild parties for which he was notorious.
His thoughts turned back to his thirtieth birthday bash, making hi
m wince. It hadn
β
t been so much a party, more a two-week brawl around Europe
with a few friends,
including his oldest childhood chum, Seamus Fox, son of a m
illionaire racehorse
trainer. The two of them together had been a lethal c
ombination, each egging the
other on, the more daring and outrageous the exploits the
better, resulting in the
occasional brush with the tabloids. The picture of him an
d Seamus plastered over the
fr
ont page of a newspaper showing them tumbling out of a St Tr
opez nightclub,
legless (and trouserless) with a beauty on each arm, was
one he couldn
β
t forget. His
father wouldn
β
t let him. They
β
d been dubbed
β
the Heir and the Fox
β
. Ironically,
Tobias wasn
β
t a natural wild child, the opposite in fact.
His one true love, Carrie, had been a local girl from t
he village. They
β
d always
been close. Even when he had been sent to Eton they
β
d written, phoned and
constantly made arrangements to meet. When Tobias had tur
ned twenty-one he had
proposed, claiming she was the only thing he wanted. Both families
had been happy
with the arrangement. Carrie
β
s parents were glad that being married to Tobias meant
she would stay in the village close to them and obviously be well l
ooked after.
Tobias
β
parents were just plain relieved he wanted to settle down wit
h a sensible,
local girl, instead of turning to drink and drugs like so many of hi
s peers. Then one
year after their spectacular engagement celebration, C
arrie had been hit by a drunken
driver and killed instantly. Tobias had been inconsolable; no
t even the Fox could calm
him. He turned his back on society and locked himself away, refus
ing to talk or open
up to anyone. His mother had been sick with worry, every a
ttempt to reach him futile.
Then, as if overnight, he completely changed. After twelv
e months of grieving,
Tobias stopped being angry with the world and everyone in it
and decided to rip the
hell out of it instead. He forced himself to live life to the
max, which meant spending
his considerable allowance on any substance necessary to ge
t the highs he craved, not
to mention a string of stunning girlfriends who were more th
an happy to be
showcased on the arm of a lord
