Emma V. Leech

A wounded artist. A grieving family. One unexpected love.
A Deeply Emotional Victorian historical romance from Best Selling Novellist Emma V Leech about healing, found family, quiet courage, and the unexpected love that transforms a wounded heart.
Larkin Weston is finally finding his footing again. After a devastating love affair plunged him into darkness, the rising star of the art world has rebuilt his life stroke by stroke. His work is flourishing. His future looks bright.
Romance, however, is firmly off the canvas.

Then a small boy barrels into his world.
Four‑year‑old Gideon Finchley — noisy, exuberant, and utterly unstoppable — decides that “Westie” is his new best friend. His exhausted mother, Mrs Magdelina Finchley, is a lovely young widow at her wits’ end. And when Larkin meets her stunning younger sister, Caroline Merrivale, and their eccentric Aunt Connie, he begins to understand why the household is in such disarray.

The truth is far darker than he imagined.
Magdelina Finchley knows grief intimately. Married for two weeks before her husband sailed to India, widowed two months later, she has endured heartbreak after heartbreak. Her adored but irresponsible father lost everything — including their home — and, unable to bear the shame, took his own life.
Now she, Caro, and Aunt Connie have fled to London, pursued by the new owner of their estate… a man who believes he has purchased more than bricks and mortar.

Larkin cannot look away.

Despite his vow to avoid entanglements, his instinct to play the hero reawakens. Three friendless women navigating the shark‑infested waters of the ton alone? Impossible. Certain the powerful Montagu family will help, he makes the introductions — and finds himself drawn ever deeper into their lives.
As friendships blossom and unexpected romances spark, Larkin discovers that healing comes in many forms: in laughter, in courage, in found family… and in the quiet, steady affection of a woman who has known sorrow and still chooses hope.

None of the Finchley–Merrivale ladies expect love.
None expect happiness.
But fate has a way of surprising even the most wounded hearts.

And Larkin Weston — reluctant hero, brilliant artist, and man who once doubted he deserved joy — may finally find that some stories really do end in happily ever after.