Emma V. Leech

Nothing ruins a quiet summer like a haunted estate but perhaps love grows brightest in the shadows.
A Daring, Gothic-Kissed Victorian Romance from Best Selling Author Emma V Leech
Miss Florence Knight has always been dangerously curious. Invited to Holbrook House for a month of summer relaxation, she hopes to forget the dreadful disappointment of her last season. The eligible young men of society are so painfully dull she cannot imagine marrying any of them. And then she meets her hostess’s brother.

Henry Stanhope is everything Florence admires — worldly, charming, intelligent, and several years older. Unfortunately, he seems blissfully unaware she exists. Even more unfortunately, strange things are happening at his neighbouring estate, Saxenhurst Hall. Objects vanish and reappear in odd places, eerie noises echo through the corridors, and a beautifully crafted corn doll — The Maiden — keeps turning up wherever Henry goes.

Florence is convinced something sinister is afoot.
Henry is convinced Florence is imagining things.
He’s wrong.
And Florence is determined to prove it.

Henry has travelled the world and seen stranger customs than most Englishmen can imagine, but even he cannot ignore the escalating oddities at Saxenhurst Hall. Still, he refuses to be rattled — until Florence inserts herself into his life with her bright eyes, sharper mind, and alarming habit of being right. She’s a menace. She’s a distraction. She’s… becoming essential.

As Florence investigates, she uncovers a centuries‑old vendetta and finds herself in far deeper danger than she expected. And when the haunting turns deadly, Henry realises two things with horrifying clarity: Florence was right all along, and he’s hopelessly in love with her.
Now he just has to survive long enough to marry her.

A curious heroine.
A reluctant hero.
And a love bold enough to face down ghosts, villains, and one very determined corn doll.