"I was not born to live in fear - I was born to choose."When a brutal Christmas blizzard forces Lady Eleanor Whitcombe into the path of the brooding Viscount of Winterbourne, she expects frost-never the dangerous warmth that follows. Trapped together in his lonely manor, whispers rise, secrets unravel, and the walls around Graham Ashford begin to crack... revealing a man who wants her far more than he dares admit.But Eleanor is a runaway with a reputation already on the edge. Her mother is hunting her. A rival suitor awaits her return. And the letters her late father left behind hold a truth powerful enough to shatter everything.When jealousy sparks, loyalties shift, and a storm locks Eleanor and Graham alone in a remote cottage, desire flares into something undeniable-yet still forbidden.With Christmas Eve approaching, Eleanor must choose: the life she's always been forced to live... or the man who makes her feel alive for the first time.One promise could save them.One mistake could ruin them both.And Winterbourne Manor never forgets what happens in its halls.A tender, slow-burn Victorian Christmas romance filled with longing, danger, and a love strong enough to melt even the coldest winter night.