Heiress Sarah Hardcastle is convinced her plan to escape the unwanted attentions of a fortune hunter is foolproof. Buried deep in the countryside, and with a whole new identity as prim governess Miss Goodrum, Sarah is looking forward to the quiet life for once.

But her careful masquerade is shaken when she meets her pupils’ mentor, Lord Rupert Myers. An incorrigible flirt, Rupert has the looks and the charm to make Sarah blush all the way down to her high-buttoned neckline—and the determination to uncover what’s beneath! Sarah will need her wits about her if she’s to resist Rupert’s roguish ways and keep her secret intact....

I would like to dedicate this book to the memory of my great friend Paula Marshall, whom I loved dearly, as did so many of you.

Prologue

‘What was so important that you summoned me here?’ Lord Rupert Myers arched a languid eyebrow at the Marquess of Merrivale. ‘’Tis an unseasonable hour and I was up late last night.’ He smothered a yawn and levelled an elegant gold-rimmed eyeglass at the older man. Seeing that the marquess looked strained, he dropped the air of boredom and said in a very different tone, ‘What may I do for you, sir?’

‘Good grief, sir,’ his uncle said, looking at a coat that had so many capes it made Rupert’s broad shoulders look positively menacing. ‘Where did you get that monstrosity?’

‘Uncle!’ Devilish eyes mocked him. ‘My feelings are deeply lacerated. Don’t you know I’m a very tulip of fashion? I dare say at least six young idiots have copied this cape only this week, for I saw Harrad’s boy wearing one with nine capes and this has only seven.’

‘More fool him,’ the marquess grunted. ‘Sit down, m’boy. You make me feel awkward, towering over me like an avenging dervish. What happened to the eager young fellow I saw off to war six years ago?’

‘I dare say he grew up, sir,’ Rupert replied carelessly, but there were shadows in his eyes as he sat in the chair opposite and his mouth lost its smile. He did not care to be reminded of that time for the memories were too painful. ‘Is something bothering you?’

‘I fear it is,’ the marquess said. ‘I’m in somewhat of a pickle, m’boy—and I’m hoping you’ll sort me out.’

‘Anything to oblige. I do not forget that you stood as a father to me when my own...’ Blue fire flashed in bitter regret, for the late Lord Myers had been a rogue and a cheat and had brought his family almost to the edge of ruin. That Rupert had been able to save himself and his sister from disgrace was in large part due to this man. ‘No, I will not go down that road. Tell me what you wish, sir, and if it is in within my power I shall do it.’

‘It’s Lily’s children,’ the marquess said with a heavy sigh. ‘You know my daughter’s story, Rupert. She would marry that wastrel. I warned her that he would run through her fortune and break her heart. She wouldn’t listen and he did all that and more—he killed her.’

‘You can’t be sure of that, sir.’

‘He drove her out into the rain that night. Her maid told me of the quarrel between them. Scunthorpe broke her heart and she stayed out all night in the rain. You know what happened next...’

Rupert nodded for he did know only too well. Lily Scunthorpe had died of a fever, leaving a daughter of six years and a son of three, but that had been more than ten years previously and he could not see what the urgency was now.

‘You took the children when Scunthorpe deserted them, installed them in Cavendish Park with a governess, tutor and the requisite servants—what has happened to throw you into a fit of the blue devils?’

‘The governess and tutor both gave notice last month. I’ve tried to find replacements, but with very little success. I fear my niece and nephew have acquired a reputation for being difficult. I have managed to find a woman who is prepared to take them both on—I suspect because she has no choice—but I’m not sure she’ll stay above a few days.’

Merrivale cleared his throat. ‘They need a firm hand, Rupert. I fear I’ve spoiled them. If I read them a lecture, they would apologise sweetly and then go straight back to their old ways. Would it be too much to ask you to stand as mentor to them for a while? The boy may go to college at the end of the year and the girl...well, she ought to have a Season next spring, but I fear I shall find it hard to secure the services of a woman influential enough to give them a good start.’

‘Play bear-leader to a girl on the edge of her come-out and a rebellious youth? Good grief, Uncle! Have your wits gone begging? I’m hardly a role model for either of them. Besides being a tulip of fashion, I’m a notorious rake—or hadn’t you heard?’

Merrivale ran nervous fingers through his white hair. ‘I know you have your mistress, but I’m not suggesting you should take her with you to Cavendish.’

‘Thank you for small mercies,’ Rupert said, the light of mockery in his eyes once more. ‘She would take it as an invitation to marry me. Annais is too greedy for her own good. I have been looking for an excuse to finish the affair and I suppose one is as good as another...she has no love of the country.’

‘Do you mean you will do it?’ A look of such relief entered the marquess’s eyes that Rupert laughed out loud. ‘I should be so grateful, m’boy.’

‘I’ll do what I can for them,’ Rupert said. ‘But I must have a free hand. Discipline is never popular and I dare say one or the other will write and complain of my high-handed behaviour or some such thing.’

‘Lily

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