Terms of Defiance

Eleanor Sinclair didn't expect to inherit 418 Birch Lane, a crumbling Victorian with rotting cedar trim and a history no one in the family wants to discuss. But the estate comes with conditions buried in the fine print, and the man sent to enforce them has made himself dangerously at home. Reid Calder is relentless, exacting, and entirely too accustomed to getting his way. Within days of Eleanor's arrival, his contractors are tearing through the house, prying open walls, and unearthing secrets the previous owner fought to keep buried. Every inch of progress draws them closer to a truth someone is willing to silence them to protect. With her aunt Margaret watching from the sidelines, her cousin Patricia angling for a share, and the shadowy developer Marcus Webb circling the property, Eleanor quickly learns that the real negotiation isn't over the house, it's over who gets to write the terms. Surrounded by divided loyalties and rising threats, she must choose between walking away with her heart intact or standing her ground against the one man who refuses to let her go.