Stranger in an Enchanted World — Ruth Burnett

A sprawling eighty-room mansion was no place for a girl from the Everglades who was used to an alligator as a “pet,” but that's where Rebecca Royce found herself when she agreed to be private nurse to ninety-six-year-old Mrs. Granville. Suddenly Rebecca was in the most magnificent home she had ever seen, surrounded by priceless antiques.

What Rebecca treasured most, though, were the long walks she took with Mrs. Granville's great-grandson, Johnny. More and more she felt herself drawn to this handsome, charming man. Mrs. Granville watched and was delighted. But someone else was watching too -- the rich, beautiful Alicia, who thought that Johnny was her own private property, and who would stop at nothing to keep him…