Tar and Sea Lavender

One locked boathouse. Two families divided by the law. And a secret that gives two unlikely hearts a reason to meet.

Ned Dove keeps his grief beneath a canvas sheet.

In the boathouse lies the rowing gig his brother Kit never finished. Since news of Kit's drowning, Ned has kept the door locked and the only key on his watch-chain. A quiet boatbuilder who stammers when he speaks, he finds wood easier to understand than people.

Then, on Ash Wednesday, he discovers fresh tar prints on the floor.

A lantern has been moved. A grapnel is missing.

Someone has entered a room no one else should be able to open.

Tamsin Kitto has little reason to help Ned's family. His stepfather sent hers to Botany Bay.

A sharp-tongued still-room maid with a fierce sense of pride, she refuses pity, resents condescension, and will not see her family blamed for another wrong on Newtown Creek. Keeping watch with Ned offers a chance to catch the intruder before suspicion finds its usual target.

Unfortunately, the parish notices their meetings long before they find their culprit.

He belongs to a Customs family. She is a smuggler's daughter. He is a gentleman's stepson. She is a maid whose livelihood depends upon her reputation.

With every hour spent together, their unlikely alliance becomes harder to explain-and harder to surrender. Beneath Tamsin's sharp answers, Ned begins to hear something worth finding words for. In his quiet company, she discovers how it feels to be heard.

But on a creek where old grievances travel faster than the tide, choosing each other may be their greatest act of courage.

Tar and Sea Lavender is a tender, clean Regency romance with a gentle boathouse mystery, a shy boatbuilder, a proud heroine, and love across a bitter family divide. Set during Lent on the Isle of Wight, Book Three of The Sea Lavender Saga can be enjoyed on its own, contains no explicit content, and promises a happy ending.