Cavanaughs

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens continues the bold tales of the Cavanaugh siblings as the sole Cavanaugh sister discovers that love truly does conquer all. A lady with a passion for music and the maestro she challenges in pursuit of a worthy cause find themselves battling villains both past and present as they fight to secure life's greatest rewards-love, marriage, and family. Stacie-Lady Eustacia Cavanaugh-is adamant marriage is not for her. Wealthy and well-born, she needs for nothing, and with marriage off the table, to give her life purpose, she embarks on a plan to further the careers of emerging local musicians by introducing them to the ton via a series of musical evenings. Yet despite her noble status, Stacie requires a musical lure to tempt the haut ton to her events, and only one musician commands sufficient cachet-the reclusive and notoriously reluctant Marquess of Albury. Frederick, Marquess of Albury, has fashioned a life for himself as a musical scholar, one he pursues largely out of sight of the ton. He might be renowned as a virtuoso on the pianoforte, yet he sees no reason to endure the smothering over attentiveness of society. Then his mother inveigles him into meeting Stacie, and the challenge she lays before him is ... tempting. Enough for him not to immediately refuse her. A dance of subtle persuasion ensues, and step by step, Frederick finds himself convinced that Stacie's plan has real merit and that it behooves him to support her. At least for one event. Stacie's first musical evening, featuring Frederick as the principal performer, is a massive success-until Fate takes a hand and lands them in a situation that forces them both to reassess. Does Frederick want more than the sterile, academic life he'd thought was for him? Can Stacie overcome her deepest fears and own to and reach for her girlhood dreams? Impulsive, arrogant, and used to getting his own way, Frederick finds his answer easily enough, but his new direction puts him on a collision course with Stacie's fears. Luckily, he thrives on challenges-which is just as well, because in addition to convincing Stacie that love can, indeed, conquer all, he and she must unravel the mystery of who is behind a spate of murderous attacks before the villain succeeds in eliminating all hope of a happy ending.

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens concludes the tales of the Cavanaugh siblings with the riveting story of the youngest brother and his search for a family of his own. The scion of a noble house brought low by a storm and the lady who nurses him back to health strive to unravel a web of deception that threatens her family and forces them to fight for what they hold most dear-family, each other, and love. Lord Godfrey Cavanaugh has no thoughts of marrying as he drives into North Yorkshire on a plum commission for the National Gallery to authenticate a Renaissance painting the gallery wishes to purchase. Then a snowstorm sweeps in, and Godfrey barely manages to haul himself, his groom, and his horses to their destination. Elinor Hinckley, eldest daughter of Hinckley Hall, stalwart defender of the family, right arm to her invalid father, and established spinster knows full well how much her family has riding on the sale of the painting and throws herself into nursing the initially delirious gentleman who holds her family's future in his hands. But Godfrey proves to be a far from easy patient. Through Ellie's and her siblings' efforts to keep him entertained and abed, Godfrey grows to know the family, appreciating and, ultimately, being drawn into family life of a sort he's never known. Eventually, to everyone's relief, he recovers sufficiently to assess the painting-only to discover that nothing is as it seems. Someone has plans-someone other than the Hinckleys-but who is pulling the strings is a mystery that Godfrey and Ellie find near-impossible to solve. Every suspect proves to have perfectly understandable, albeit hidden reasons for their behavior. Until the villain, panicked by their inquiries, strikes-directly at them-and forces them both to acknowledge what has grown to be the most important thing in their lives. Together they battle to save not just themselves, not just her family, but their futures. Hers, his, and theirs.