The Lavender and the Gilding
A Secret Birthright, Enemies-to-Lovers Historical RomanceShe smelled of lavender. He was carved from restraint. Versailles would either break them — or set them free.
Provence, 1682. Marguerite Delacroix has never worn silk, never danced a menuet, and never needed anyone’s permission to speak her mind. But when a dying secret reveals she is the illegitimate daughter of a French nobleman, she is torn from her family’s lavender farm and thrust into the treacherous court of Louis XIV — where one wrong word can destroy a reputation, and every smile hides a blade.
Her reluctant guide through this glittering world is Sébastien de Vauclaire, Comte de Montcerf — a man who has mastered every rule of the court and forgotten how to feel anything real. Cold, brilliant, and devastatingly handsome, he sees Marguerite as an obligation. She sees him as a man who has never been rained on.
Their lessons in etiquette become a battle of wills — and an undeniable attraction neither can afford. Every correction requires his hands on her body. Every argument pulls them closer. Every stolen moment in the palace Orangerie threatens to unravel the careful control he has spent a lifetime building.
But Versailles is watching. A powerful marquis with a predator’s patience has set his sights on Marguerite, and his pursuit will force both her and Sébastien to choose: the safety of silence, or the dangerous, terrifying freedom of love.
The Lavender and the Gilding is a slow-burn historical romance set against the opulent intrigue of the Sun King’s court, where a sharp-tongued country girl and a guarded aristocrat must decide whether the walls they have built are keeping the world out — or keeping themselves trapped within.
Perfect for readers who love enemies-to-lovers tension, strong heroines, brooding heroes, and the sumptuous drama of historical France.
For fans of: Bridgerton, The Duchess Deal, and Outlander.
