This HaBO is from Jaime, who wants to find this romance. CW for mentions of sexual assault:
This is driving me up a wall! Trying to remember the name of a book. A desperate woman (poor, abused, or both?) finds herself a housekeeper or nurse for a grumpy man with old scars/injuries on his leg. He knows she’s hiding secrets. She cannot tolerate physically touching him but has to help him with exercises to help with his mobility. She is a lady that’s considered fallen, but I believe it’s because she was a victim of SA and no one stood up for her. It’s so random, but for some reason this book is stuck in my head? Tried googling it and cannot find it. It would have been an audiobook.
There’s a kissing scene in a feed room? I don’t know; I remember them frolicking in like corn and she panics.
Feed rooms have such a distinct smell and one that I don’t find conducive to kissing.
I’m guessing here but I think it sounds like a Mary Balogh book. If I remember correctly she writes a whole series about wounded heroes.
Waiting to hear what this one is!
Definitely intrigued to know what this one is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not Mary Balogh unless it’s a very old one. None of the Survivor’s Club books fits, nor any of the others in recent series with injured heroes that I can think of.
I thought perhaps Grace Burrowes, as she does love housekeeper heroines (often desperate/ruined ladies) and heroines with past trauma, heroes who are very tolerant of that, and has some ex-soldier heroes. It’s not any of hers that I’ve read but she has quite a backlist and I’ve mostly only read the Wyndham series and few others so it’s still a possibility.
Sounds like what used to be my catnip 20, even 10 years ago… Definitely not Balogh’s Survivor’s Club series, and I can’t think of any older Balogh either that fits the bill, though it sounds like something she could have written. I have read probably the majority of her books, but definitely not all. From Grace Burrowes I have read her Captive Hearts series, which has ex-soldier heroes, but it’s none of those either. It also doesn’t sound like any of the other wounded hero Regencies I have (yes, I went for those!). Gallant Waif by Anne Gracie does not fit either.
Maybe Elizabeth Hoyt’s To Beguile a Beast? Hero is scarred and now a recluse, She’s running from a scandal. It has been years since I read it (it came out in 2009), and I can’t remember any specific scenes. There is an audio edition.
That’s all I’ve got…
I second To Beguile a Beast but I also am not sure. I remember the scene though but what I remember is not corn but feathers? Like a big heap of feathers in the barn or something.