Adjacent But Only Just

Viola Brodure, gentlewoman and celebrated authoress, faces a personal dilemma suited for a novel—everyone wishes for her to make a love match with Ethan Penn-Leith, the famous Highland Poet. After all, the popular novelist and the famous poet are the perfect heroine and hero for their own love story. The problem is that Viola has never met Ethan, not in the flesh, at least. She has read about him and devoured his poetic writings, but does the man himself live up to his dashing reputation? Malcolm Penn-Leith exists in twilight. He manages his farm in the shadow of the Scottish Highlands. As the older brother of the renowned Ethan Penn-Leith, Malcolm tends to his prized cows while Ethan basks in the limelight. Harder still, Malcolm lives under a cloud of grief after the death of his wife five years ago. But then Miss Viola Brodure arrives in Malcolm's village and awakens a piece of his heart that he thought was lost in the abyss of his grief . . . Viola is surprised to find herself more attracted to the stoic Malcolm than the charming Ethan. As social pressures mount, can Malcolm and Viola overcome the weight of his past and the expectations of her future to forge a new path together?