Romance of the French Country House — Dorothy Baker

Ellen Krall is an attractive young interior decorator, with a flair for restoration. Despite her gifted talent she has elected to stay in her small home town on a bend of the Missouri River, working as an assistant to a once renowned decorator.
Though Ellen would vigorously deny it, she is a romantic. As a child she had become fascinated with the Generaux Mansion that stood high on the bluffs across the river from the town. Then at sixteen, for only a brief moment she sees the handsome, grandson of the old matriarch and is smitten with a girlish crush. A fantasy that makes all her high school and collage suitors seem pale imitation of what a man should be. Now at twenty six she is unmarried and perplexed.
Her youthful dream begins to come true when John Generaux, the grandson and owner of the mansion, decides to have it restored. Ellen will play a large part in this work. Through the restoration Ellen meets a young man Brian McKinney. He is a complete opposite of her dream man. After a rocky start romance blooms, only to be sidetracked by the arrival of John Generaux.