When He Was a Rogue by Tess Thompson

He’s determined to restore his family’s honor. She’s desperate to secure her sister’s future. Neither expected to find a love that would change everything.

James Ashford has survived disgrace, war, and years on the edges of society. Now he is determined to reclaim his family’s honor by restoring Ashford Manor, the crumbling estate that once defined his family’s legacy. To see it rise again, he turns to Georgiana Hartwell—a widowed lady bold enough to continue her late husband’s architectural practice.
For Georgiana, the commission is more than a livelihood. It is her chance to prove her worth in a world that would rather dismiss her, while earning the dowry her younger sister needs to secure a good match. Yet even as her passion for the project grows, so too does the pull she feels toward the roguish man who defies every rule of society.