Reaching a Grieving Duke

Elinor Wrenfield presents herself at Rothmere dripping wet and plainly not the disciplinarian gentleman the duke had specified.

For seven years Nathaniel Vale has left the east wing closed after his wife's funeral, with his seven-year-old son stranded beyond that threshold as three tutors abandoned the post in four months, the last after receiving Cicero a single page at a time beneath the schoolroom door.

Elinor is hired to instruct the child and quickly finds a boy who is isolated rather than impossible.

Her charge was the son, yet Nathaniel begins undoing locks that have held since the burial.

A duke cannot marry his heir's governess, and this motherless boy cannot be permitted another farewell.