Classic Regency Romance

Eighteen-year-old orphan Harriet Thomson has resided with a distant cousin’s aristocratic household since the age of five, first as companion to Prudence, the youngest daughter of house, later as carer of Pru’s ailing father. When he dies, she has to make her own way in the world and finds work as companion to the elderly Countess Arden, who resides in the Dower House on the Hertfordshire estate of the dashingly handsome Duke of Fairbridge. 

Twenty-five-year-old Lady Vanessa Templeton’s life is ruled by her aunt and uncle, who took over title, house, and estate following her father’s death. With no intention of escaping to marriage, she avoids society as much as possible. Following a rare visit to London to see an elderly aunt, she encounters an illiterate, ex-seaman who looks suitable for the footman’s position her aunt has been trying to fill, so she takes him home.