AustLit

'An impoverished Governess, a grieving Earl with problematic daughters, an unexpected passion, betrayals and confusion, a love that conquers all.

'Mrs Constance Leslie is desperate. Cut off by her family long before, and now a widow for two years, with her employment completed, she faces starvation for herself and her ailing mother-in-law. Though her past work has been as a governess and companion, at this juncture, even the chance to work as a maid at Blackwood Chase looks good. But working there will challenge everything about her, as she deals with her employer’s thoroughly spoilt daughters, and her own undeniable attraction to the Earl.

'Peregrine Stapleton, the Earl of Blackwood, still grieves his first wife, although she has been gone five years and more. His grief has led him to spoil his daughters, and now he must face the fact that, before the eldest is introduced to society, the behaviour of all three must be repaired. Nothing seems to have any effect, and the only thing which distracts him from despair is fighting his attraction to the new maid – who seems far more educated and confident than any housemaid he has ever seen before. Not to mention her beauty…

'When the daughters’ behaviour causes Constance to attempt to leave his employ, the Earl finds himself unable to let her go… Will Constance and Perry allow the passion that flares between them to override good sense? Can they find love, despite the difference in their social status? Or will the meddling of both the daughters, and Perry’s mother, tear them apart?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.