A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril

Living in reduced circumstances, Miss Jane Halliwell is governess to Viscount and Lady Guilford’s 16-year-old daughter. Jane’s fall from society was preceded by the death of her father and the loss of her dowry due to his gambling debts. Jane, refusing to play the poor relation, works on a novel in hopes of becoming self-sufficient. When the viscount hosts a secretive meeting with international attendees on behalf of the Foreign Office, Jane and her charge are intrigued by the arrival of handsome Lord Adrian Fielding—the same man who was working alongside Jane’s father in Italy when he died and who seemed all too eager to flee to his next assignment to avoid the embarrassment of their connection. When Jane discovers the viscount dead in his study, she is asked to act as hostess while the police and Adrian investigate who could have killed him. Adrian, unaware of Jane’s perception of his Italian departure, is determined to keep her safe during the summit while finding the viscount’s murderer.