A new addition to the bestselling The Fentons Series ...

Ursilla Duvall was once the daughter, then sister of a viscount, but her life is very different now. Since her cousin inherited after her brother's death at Waterloo, she has been left with the Cole family, as something worse than a poor relation.
Baron Edmond Grant, the friend of Ursilla's deceased brother, returns home some months after the battle. prompted by the late viscount to check on the lady.

He does so, after some time, but what he finds makes him suspicious of the Coles. Before he can take action, his mother, Baroness Grant does. Ursilla is invited to call at the Grant's house, but what the baroness, her son Edmond and daughter Dulce, Countess of Drakemire find out there, means that the broken and cowed Ursilla Duvall henceforth resides with them. She is assigned a cheerful maid, fresh from the country, Sadie, who has not yet learned the rules of servitude, and who leads her artistocratic employers by a string, it seems.

Grant remains an illusive figure, who does not introduce himself to the young lady his mother has adopted into his home, but he glimpses her at night, when she sleeps, wracked by nightmares of her life with the Coles.

With the help of an uncle and nephew, the supremely suave Mr Wilbert Fenton and the handsome Benedict, plus Viscount Titus Gascoigne, an old friend, Grant investigates the crimes of Hubert Cole, the villain of Ursilla's young life.
But it is Lady Aurora Fenton and Mrs Genevieve Fenton who, along with the Grant ladies and Sadie the maid help Ursilla recover her lost confidence and reignite her smile.

Though working for justice for the young lady, Grant wants to keep his distance, but his night time visits become known to the family, and when at last he sees Ursilla, Grant's attempts at distancing himself begin to crumble. He did not want to be the knight who rescues a lady in danger, but that is precisely what he becomes, for it is not just Ursilla's sufferings that move him, but her newly joyous smile and her naughty spirit..

Lords and ladies, poor relations, villains, drama, and delicious romantic comedy. The romance of beloved characters leaves one with deep satisfaction.