The Debutante’s Brooding Protector (The Duchess’s Darling Debutantes #1)

Estella had barely finished her morning tea when the duchess summoned her.

The maid who appeared in the breakfast room doorway was perfectly polite, and the message was delivered with all the graciousness one would expect from the Duchess of Ashworth's household. But there was a certain practiced blankness in the maid’s expression that had Estella setting down her tea and following quickly.

She found the duchess in the drawing room, seated in her usual chair with an expression of such studied calm that Estella's stomach immediately dropped.

Thea was there too, which was…unexpected. Thea was perched on the settee, looking as though she'd been invited for morning calls and had wandered into a tribunal by accident.