The Portrait

A highly sought-after painter, Devon Darcey seems to peer into the souls of her subjects to capture them on canvas. But the world doesn’t know about the devastating losses she has endured, first as an orphan, then as a far-too-young widow.

When entrepreneur Charles Mackenzie Taylor meets her at a New York gallery event, he is instantly haunted by her beauty and her talent. Having lost his mother when he was thirteen, and still living in the cold shadow of his late father’s disapproval, Charlie has given up on love. But Devon awakens something in him across that crowded gallery, and she is in turn intrigued by Charlie.

The electricity between them is palpable when he approaches her to paint his portrait. But the ghosts of their pasts will not be easily put to rest. Danielle Steel’s sensitive portrait of two people who have built walls around themselves is a moving story of the rocky path to embracing new love.