Not Just a Governess

Not Just a Governess
Carole Mortimer

Darkly delicious Lord Adam Hawthorne doesn’t care a whit for society – especially the tedium of finding a wife. So taking on a new governess for his young daughter shouldn’t shake his steely disposition! Or lady in disguise?Except Mrs Elena Leighton, an enigmatic widow, is a most intriguing addition to the household. What are those ladylike airs and graces beneath her dowdy exterior? Despite great impropriety, Lord Hawthorne is compelled to discover the real Elena – no matter what secrets are unveiled along the way…A Season of Secrets: A lady never tells…

About the Author

CAROLE MORTIMER was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and fifty books for Harlequin Mills & Boon

. Carole has six sons: Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live in a lovely part of England.’

Previous novels by the same author:

In Mills & Boon

Historical Romance:

THE DUKE’S CINDERELLA BRIDE* (#ulink_5747e74e-154e-5811-827e-580413b7c608)

THE RAKE’S WICKED PROPOSAL* (#ulink_5747e74e-154e-5811-827e-580413b7c608)

THE ROGUE’S DISGRACED LADY* (#ulink_5747e74e-154e-5811-827e-580413b7c608)

LADY ARABELLA’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE* (#ulink_5747e74e-154e-5811-827e-580413b7c608)

THE LADY GAMBLES** (#ulink_22be9e6d-1d42-5eb5-9168-d46320f8b76f)

THE LADY FORFEITS** (#ulink_22be9e6d-1d42-5eb5-9168-d46320f8b76f)

THE LADY CONFESSES** (#ulink_22be9e6d-1d42-5eb5-9168-d46320f8b76f)

SOME LIKE IT WICKED† (#ulink_9ea4c7a6-d481-5ee3-be17-12afaa7ad1d3)

SOME LIKE TO SHOCK† (#ulink_9ea4c7a6-d481-5ee3-be17-12afaa7ad1d3)

* (#ulink_d14d87b3-1c59-55b1-a0c4-5e3313c10ccc)The Notorious St Claires

** (#ulink_6ecc9fc3-6a5d-52db-99d7-a3494498e26f)The Copeland Sisters

† (#ulink_474ee142-3866-5422-ae78-0bd9fd630145)Daring Duchesses

You’ve read about The Notorious St Claires in Regency times. Now you can read about the new generation in Mills & Boon

Modern

Romance:

The Scandalous St Claires:

Three arrogant aristocrats—ready to be tamed!

JORDAN ST CLAIRE: DARK AND DANGEROUS

THE RELUCTANT DUKE

TAMING THE LAST ST CLAIRE

And in Mills & Boon

Historical Undone! eBooks:

AT THE DUKE’S SERVICE

CONVENIENT WIFE, PLEASURED LADY

A WICKEDLY PLEASURABLE WAGER** (#ulink_22be9e6d-1d42-5eb5-9168-d46320f8b76f)

SOME LIKE IT SCANDALOUS† (#ulink_9ea4c7a6-d481-5ee3-be17-12afaa7ad1d3)

And in Mills & Boon ® Regency Castonbury Park mini-series:

THE WICKED LORD MONTAGUE

Not Just a

Governess

Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To my very special Dad, Eric Haworth Faulkner, 6/2/1923–6/12/2012. A true and everlasting hero!

The dedication of this book says it all for me. I lost my Dad in December, a man who was and always will be a true hero to me, in every sense of the word. He was always very proud of my writing, but I am even prouder to have enjoyed the absolute privilege of being his daughter.

I hope you will all continue to enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them!

Chapter One

Late April, 1817—the London home of Lady Cicely Hawthorne

‘I, for one, am disappointed that you do not seem to be any further along with finding a bride for Hawthorne, Cicely,’ Edith St Just, Dowager Duchess of Royston, gave her friend a reproving frown.

‘Perhaps we were all being a trifle ambitious, at the start of the Season, in deciding to acquire suitable wives for our three grandsons?’ Lady Jocelyn Ambrose put in softly.

The three ladies talking now had been aged only eighteen when they had shared a coming-out Season fifty years ago and had become fast friends, a state of affairs that had seen them all through marriage and their children’s marriages. They now had their sights firmly set on the nuptials of their errant grandchildren.

‘Nonsense,’ the dowager duchess dismissed that claim firmly. ‘You had no trouble whatsoever in seeing Chambourne settled—’

‘But not to the bride I had chosen for him,’ Lady Jocelyn pointed out fairly.