Prelude for a Lord

It is their music that heals them, but it may also drive them apart. Lady Alethea Sutherton has always felt alone. Alienated from her peers by her passion for the violin---considered a scandalously unladylike instrument---and thrown out of her home by her selfish cousin, she is living with her aunt and waiting for her 30th birthday in order to claim her inheritance. One day she hopes to pursue her passion for music on the continent, where she can live independently with her half-sister, the one person in the world who loves her. She is alarmed to learn that someone is trying to steal her violin, left to her by an Italian widow who loved her in place of the mother she never knew. She is forced to ask for help from Lord Dommick, renowned for his expertise in music and violins. Traumatized by his time spent fighting the French on the Peninsula, Lord Dommick is desperate to dispel the rumors of his madness for the sake of his sister, who will be coming out in London in the spring. A meddling society hostess offers him a solution: help Alethea, and his sister's successful debut Season will be assured. Dommick and Alethea seem to clash at every turn---he doesn't approve of Alethea's disregard for the conventions of society, and she thinks he is hopelessly close-minded to agree with the public notion that women shouldn't play the violin. As the danger spreads to include their families, can they learn to work together and uncover the violin's mysterious origins in time to save them all?