The Muse

What if the truth about a famous painting was not what it's been told to be? What if it was not even the original work and a different painting had inspired its creation? The story of a painting... The motivation behind the work, Flaming June--Romanticist painter, Lord Frederic Leighton's magnum opus--a woman sleeping in a chair. Hauntingly beautiful, but with its inspiration locked away in the mystery of times past. 1812... Burdened with family skeletons and agonizing guilt, an unwilling Lord Rothvale, one Graham Everley, returns from a long sojourn in Ireland to attend to the obligations awaiting him in England. The last thing he imagines to find is his destiny, but find her he does. Imogene Byron-Cole, a girl as lovely as her past is tragic. Graham can't walk away from her, and so he marries her instead, in spite of an increasingly tangled web of troubles that threaten to destroy the very foundation of his entire existence. As Graham and Imogene start out on their journey together, they express their love through a series of portraits. The art ensnares them completely, and in the end, becomes their salvation, bearing them through their deepest pain of loss, and inspiring a masterwork. [Book ONE of the Rothvale Legacy Historical Prequel series.] This is a historical romance novel intended for readers 18 years and older due to content and language. Standalone. HEA. 140,000 words.