la_prima_donna
In the spring of 1816, Henry Carthart reluctantly returns to Lillyhall Manor after inheriting the title of Earl of Ulswater from the estranged father he spent years avoiding. Intending only to repair the struggling estate before returning to the army, Henry instead finds himself trapped within a tense household held together not by nobility, but by the quiet competence of Miss Caitlin O'Higgin-the Irish governess who has raised and protected his younger half-siblings through years of neglect and cruelty.
Intelligent, sharp-witted, and fiercely devoted to the children in her care, Caitlin has no intention of trusting the cold, emotionally distant new earl. Yet as the rain-soaked months pass and the walls between them begin to crack, resentment gives way to understanding, and understanding to something far more dangerous.
But in Regency society, an earl and a governess are not meant to fall in love. As gossip spreads and family obligations threaten to tear them apart, Henry and Caitlin must decide whether the cost of choosing each other is worth risking everything they have left.
What Remains at Lillyhall is a slow-burn historical romance about grief, family, and the quiet people who become home when one least expects it.