I pre-ordered this as The Captive Duke and found I had already read it back in 2017 under a slightly different title, but I loved it, so I reread it.
The French captured Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, while on a campaign in Spain. For a year, he was tortured, highly unusual for a high-status prisoner, until Napoleon was captured and he was released. Now home, he finds his wife and son have died, and his daughter doesn't speak. Gillian, a recent widow and his wife's cousin, comes to help him and his daughter, but there is more at work here than the French.
Both Christian and Gillian have suffered and it's lovely to see how they help each other recover from their wounds, both physical and emotional. The story concentrates on their building romance, and the mystery, while important, is almost peripheral and resolved at the end of the book. Christian and Gilly are a lovely couple, complementing each other, and I loved how they deal with Margaret, Christian's daughter. Of course, I'm always happy to get more of the Windham family, and Devlin St Just appears here as Christian's friend. Well worth the reread. ( )