Unquiet Hearts — Kathy Lynn Emerson

Protector, friend, hero. Nick Carrier had been all these things and more to Thomasine Strangeways during her bleak childhood at Catsholme Manor. But that was before she and her mother had been sent away under mysterious circumstances.

Now, years later, Thomasine returned to fulfill her mother's deathbed request, but the welcome she received in her former home was far from friendly. To make matters worse, the Nick she had cherished was gone -- replaced by a brooding widower who provoked her passion only to scorn her kisses. And someone was watching her, someone who didn't want her to stir up the past. Would the man she'd never stopped loving prove to be her champion once again -- or her undoing?