He thought he had it all—until she showed him exactly what he’d been missing…
Hugo Buckingham was perfectly happy with the life he’d built for himself. With his steady clientele and co-ownership stake in the most exclusive brothel in London, he had everything he needed. But that was before. Before he was falsely convicted of a crime and tossed onto a ship to New South Wales. Before the ship went down and stranded him on the tiny island of Stroma.
Before her.
Miss Martha Pringle is everything he’s not—virginal, kind, and sweet. A good person. She deserves so much better than the likes of him. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting her, needing her, with an urgency that borders on terrifying.
Now, Hugo has a choice to make. Should he go home, clear his name, and return to his old life—or stay with Martha and build a new one?
But more importantly…will Martha even want him once she discovers what kind of man he really is?
Settled in the tranquil remoteness of the Scottish Highlands, Ardnoch Estate caters to the rich and famous. It is as unattainable and as mysterious as its owner --ex-Hollywood leading man Lachlan Adair--and it's poised on the edge of a dark scandal.
After narrowly escaping death, police officer Robyn Penhaligon leaves behind her life in Boston in search of some answers. Starting with Mac Galbraith, the Scottish father who abandoned her to pursue his career in private security. To re-connect with Mac, Robyn will finally meet a man she's long resented. Lachlan Adair. Hostility instantly brews between Robyn and Lachlan. She thinks the head of the Adair family is high-handed and self-important. And finding closure with Mac is proving more difficult than she ever imagined. Robyn would sooner leave Ardnoch, but when she discovers Mac is embroiled in a threat against the Adairs and the exclusive members of the estate, she finds she's not yet ready to give up on her father.
Determined to ensure Mac's safety, Robyn investigates the disturbing crimes at Ardnoch, forcing her and Lachlan to spend time together. Soon it becomes clear a searing attraction exists beneath their animosity, and temptation leads them down a perilous path. While they discover they are connected by something far more addictive than passion, Lachlan cannot let go of his grip on a painful past: a past that will destroy his future ... if the insidious presence of an enemy lurking in the shadows of Ardnoch doesn't do the job first.
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Samantha Young is one of my auto-buy authors since I first read “On Dublin Street” years ago. I’m so happy I got to read an ARC of this book! It has it all: love, suspense, a lovely setting, an interesting cast of characters… The book starts with a glimpse of our female MC a year before the action of the book begins. She’s a cop and she’s on the job with her friend and partner and she gets shot. That completely changes her life and convinces her to be brave and confront the father she loves, but has abandoned her when she was a teenager. Robyn goes to Scotland and besides her father, she also meets the man she also holds responsible for father leaving, the ex-actor Lachlan Adair. Robyn and Lachlan have an antagonistic relationship and she especially enjoys needling him. It’s one of my favorite tropes actually: enemies to lovers. They are pressed by circumstances to tolerate each other and work together, and that’s how they discover they have things and values in common. I really loved the secondary characters starting with Mac, Robyn’s father, Lachlan’s siblings, his staff and the people leaving in the village near his estate turned business. They are quirky and real and I’m sure they will be lovely in the books to come. As I said when I started writing this review, Sam Young continues to be one of my auto-buy authors and this is a winner of a book for me.
Meet Samantha
Samantha is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over forty books, several of which have been nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards. She writes adult contemporary and paranormal romance, YA urban fantasy and YA contemporary fiction. Her books have been published in 28 languages in 30 countries. She resides in Scotland.