From award-winning author Elizabeth Essex comes the adventurous final novel of the highly acclaimed Highland Brides, a quintet of bold, brilliant lasses determined to make their own happily ever afters. A thing of beauty can be a joy forever. But beauty lies... Lord Archie Carrington knows a beauty when he sees one. Barmaids and countess alike fall beneath the charm of the youngest-ever editor of Edinburgh's sharpest political and literary quarterly. So when he sets out to write an exposé on the new Lord Advocate, the clever Scotsman devises a plan to charm his opponent's shy portraitist daughter out of her smock-and her family secrets. in the eyes of the beholder. But Maisie Conway knows a rogue when she sees one and although she agrees to paint Lord Carrington's portrait, she rebuffs all of Archie's attempts at flirtation and familiarity. That is, until Archie offers to pose nude as a life drawing lesson and Maisie cannot resist the opportunity to uncover all of his manifest charms. Posing leads to passion, but soon they find themselves working at cross purposes. As Archie and Maisie follow the dictates of their desire, will they learn to trust one another, or will the dark secrets surrounding them cost them their only chance to achieve true love?