Sscandal and Miss Smith

After two years as governess to the youngest members of the Deverell family, Miss Phoebe Smith is at her wit’s end. If she is not to end up in Bedlam, Lord Deverell, guardian to her orphaned charges, will have to take control. Unfortunately, she hasn’t taken into account Deverell’s total lack of proper family feeling. At their first meeting, not only does he mistake her for a barque of frailty, he refuses to accept her resignation.

Sebastian, Lord Deverell, has returned to England to resume his place in Polite Society. He has no intention of involving himself in the lives of his family after they banished him fifteen years ago. But when Miss Phoebe Smith turns up, threatening to dump his three teenaged wards on his hands, he doesn’t have much choice. He can’t pursue her if she vanishes from his life. Phoebe agrees to stay, but as Deverell’s wards involve them in one potential disaster after another, her reasons for staying start to worry her. It’s no use dreaming about becoming Deverell’s wife—she is totally ineligible for the position—but becoming his mistress would be a worse disaster than anything his wards can think up.