A governess with a past… After breaking her heart years ago and ruining her future, Maeve Midden now only longs to find a permanent position as a governess. A place where she can belong, and forever hide herself. But she winds up making a deal with Lord Rothe, a former colonel in the King's army--she'll look after his sixteen-year-old niece until she can find a new position with younger girls. But she's soon intertwined in the lives of this troubled girl, and this troubled lord. How can she leave this family that needs her so much? How can she stay when she is falling in love with a man who is far above her lowly position? A lord in need of some lessons… Colonel Andrew Derhurst, Lord Rothe, never expected to inherit a title and his brother's family. As a younger son, he was meant for a military career and he's made himself into a hard army man. But now he has a title he never wanted, relatives who resent him, and a desperate need for Maeve's help. But will he lose her due to her stubborn determination to keep her as his niece's governess… and to a heart which has forgotten how to love?