This HaBO comes from M, who is looking for this older title:
I probably read this in the early 90s. The main characters have known each other since childhood. The heroine’s widowed (I think) mother became the tutor for the young master of the house ( I think his name was Miles). Heroine was allowed to study alongside him. Miles tormented the heroine by doing things like dipping braids in ink etc.
There is a Jacobite treasure that is ultimately found including a pearl pin that looks like a gargoyle. Miles recognizes it and realizes his father was a traitor to the crown and donated the pin to help fund Prince Charlie.
Thanks for any help you can give.
Can we place this one?
The only romances that’ve stuck in my mind that dealt comprehensively with the Jacobite rebellion were by Patricia Veryan, but it’s been so long since I read them that I can’t remember if these elements occurred in any of those books. Dang! Now I need to go hunting.
I thought of Patricia Veryan too! She has an unofficial fan page http://www.mandry.net/veryan/ and I didn’t see a Miles listed as a character, but maybe some of the titles and/or plot summaries will ring a bell?
None of the Patricia Veryan sounds like it
Thanks for trying though!