The Fen Tiger // House of the Fens — Catherine Marchant

In the lonely mill house deep in the wild fen country, Rosamund Morley lived a cloistered, poverty-stricken existence with her sister Jennifer and her alcoholic father. Rosamund was the prop and stay of the family - and it was she who ran for help the night her father set his bed alight after a drinking bout. That night was to change the course of Rosamund's life - for, fleeing through the woods, she encountered Michael Bradshaw, the long-absent owner of Thornby House. He appeared rude, abrupt, and arrogant, and Rosamund immediately christened him the "Fen Tiger".

When she knew more of Michael's past, and the fate that had forced him to live in isolation, Rosamund's initial feelings of dislike changed to compassion...and then to something deeper...Her own circumstances, in the meantime, were becoming ever more desperate. The Morleys only lived in Heron Mill through the charity of an uncle - and suddenly he died. Rosamund, Jennifer, and their father knew that they would soon be homeless...