Grasp the Thorn

Bear Gavenor has retired from war and built a business restoring abandoned country manors to sell to the newly rich. He'd like to settle in one himself and raise a family, but the marriage mart is full of harpies like his mother.

Rosa Neatham's war is just starting. Penniless and evicted from her home, she despairs of being able to care for her invalid father. When she returns to her former home to pick his favourite flower, she is injured in a fall.

Bear, the new occupant of the cottage, off...