Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.
The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.
Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.
With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust—who in her life is false or true, brass or gold—and what is meant to be treasured.
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Summary
From: Rebecca Maney
Book Title: Lady of a Thousand Treasures Book Author: Sandra Byrd What do you like about this book:
"He left me and did not return when he said he would. Not once, but twice."
Filled with doubts about the one man who captured her heart and then dared to misplace it, Eleanor Sheffield is commissioned to either place the vast treasures of the recently deceased Lord Lydney into a museum or allow them to remain in their original home; becoming the sole property of his sole heir; the living, breathing Lord Harry Lydney. As a conservator, Ellie must meticulously document the authenticity of every valuable, while determining whether or not she can trust the man who has seemingly betrayed her. It seems that the Harry she once loved and admired has a myriad of secrets.
Tortured with her conflicting opinions, Ellie has to set aside her personal challenges and find a way to improve her professional reputation among London's elite collectors, for her family business "Sheffield Brothers" has already lost one brother; her own father, to death, while the remaining partner; her uncle, is suffering with lingering bouts of embarrassing confusion. Meanwhile, debts are rising and clients are dwindling, putting Ellie in the unenviable position of having to sell some of her own valuables. Placing the Lydney collection in the South Kensington Museum would go a long way to boost her prestige among peers, even as her father's lingering tutelage reminds her to rely upon what her eyes see, rather than upon what others want her to see.
What an intriguing story, finely layered with trust, mistrust, romance and disgust. Fortunately, Ellie is granted the opportunity to realize that she can "be on the outside who (she) was on the inside", learning that "every circumstance in life doesn't have to end happily for the Lord to provide a happy ending". . . .. although it's quite certain that the ending to this story will prove quite satisfactory; for surely people are life's greatest treasures.
I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.
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