The Reluctant Earl by Pamela Gibson
Gerren Stafford, sailor and Cornish wrestler, ran away to sea when his gentle older brother was taunted and killed in a duel, and vowed never to set foot in his homeland again. When a stranger informs him he is the new Earl of Siltsbury, Gerren reluctantly returns to England with a hidden purpose, and to assume a role for which he is woefully unprepared.
Then he meets Anna.
Anna Jeffries is a baroness who is keeping her aristocratic connections a secret. She uses her new position as Siltsbury housekeeper to hide from her late husband’s successor, a man she suspects arranged her husband’s death and is now threatening her with harm if she “dares to spread her vile rumors.”
Drawn together by friendship, loneliness, and hidden emotional wounds, Anna and Gerren find solace in passion. But can they find an enduring love or are there too many secrets and lies between them?
