Earl Grafton and the Traitor by Angela E. Johnson

Nominated for a 2023 RONE Award When love arrives in the form of an enemy, who knew it would be covered in mud? Baxter Fernley, the Earl of Grafton, takes his duty as a member of the ton with the utmost sincerity, even if King George III has lost his mind. As a respected member of the peerage and the local magistrate, his life has order and meaning until an unruly American woman with a muddy skirt falls at his feet in what he believes to be an attempt at trapping him in marriage. Briar Kensington thought England was boring until her impolite neighbor knocked her down and threw unfounded accusations at her like a mud-slinging fool. When she overhears the man's claim that she might be the cause of King George's state of insanity, Briar decides she wants nothing to do with him, even if it was said in jest. Baxter despises almost everything about his traitorous American neighbor, everything except her beauty and strong will. Briar finds Baxter to be an infuriating man without any common sense, even if she does admire his strength of character and loyalty to family and duty. When they agree to be civil, their awkward first meeting is forgotten and these enemies find themselves hoping for love.