The Duke’s Heartbreaking Secret by Kate Carteret

When they only met because of a terrible secret, can love find a way?
When Anabelle Brock, on the run from her cousin’s control, finds work at Westward Hall, she is sworn to secrecy by the Duke himself. But as time goes on, and Anabelle helps the Duke get to the bottom of a terrible mystery, will she finally find love?

A Young Woman Wronged. Anabelle Brock feels alone at Brockett House, the home of her distant cousin and closest living relative. Leopold, angry that her father’s estate did not come to him as it should, takes it out on her and has plans to make her pay in other ways. Anabelle would rather die than be ruined by the man who should have taken her in to protect her, and so sets off in secret to find work. When she goes to an employment registry, it is to find they have only one suitable job on their books; a job that is shrouded in secrecy from the very beginning. Anabelle knows she has no option but to take it and soon finds herself heading for Westward Hall, home of the Duke of Westward.

A Tortured Hero. Giles Saville, the Duke of Westward, has a past that is riddled with pain and loss. Unable to bear losing just one more person, he is determined that he will only ever marry a woman he has no chance of loving. Miss Constance Newfield, spoiled, vain, and ambitious, seems to fit the bill to a tee. But the Duke has a secret, one he cannot yet risk Constance knowing; his beloved sister Lucy has suddenly begun to suffer from a mental infirmity, one that nobody can get to the bottom of. He hires a companion for her, not knowing what else to do, and silently prays his sister will one day recover.

Anabelle, kind, caring, and intelligent, soon settles into his home and appears to be the only person so far to make any progress at all with Lucy Saville. The more Anabelle tries, the closer she gets to solving a family mystery of devastating proportions. Finding herself falling in love with the Duke, Anabelle fears that in helping Lucy, she will only push him away.

A Family Mystery. As the Duke finds himself drawn to Anabelle, can he really continue with his plan to propose to Constance Newfield? Or will the solving of the most painful mystery of his life lead him to true love at last?