The Man at Windmere

When Maryanne Fallon entered the library at Windmere, she stopped in sudden shock. Donald, her husband, was standing across the room! So the past had been a long terrible dream. His fatal accident on the icy Connecticut road; her grief and fear of the bleak future awaiting any penniless widow in the 1850's; leaving their small son behind when she sailed to England and to weeks of hard labor on the Fallon family farm in Yorkshire.

Then, as the man in the library came closer, she saw that he was not Donald. He was Donald's double in looks but not in spirit. There was something evil about him, something that made her shrink back in fear. He must be related to Donald, and for her son's sake, she had to find out what she could about him. Soon she learned that he was Jonathan Burke, the steward of Sir Rodney Athaire's estate and Lady Athaire's lover. An investigation would have to be done with great delicacy because Lady Athaire, who employed her as a secretary, became a wildcat when her jealousy was aroused.

Maryannes's dangerous search would take her from Windmere to humble cottages, from the docks of Liverpool to a ruined abbey. Only one person, a man who had treated with contempt, could give her the protection and hope she wanted.