The Companion and the Schoolmaster

Work in progress: the first book in the new Bathing Hut Matchmaker Series!

Nancy Green has lived a quiet life of endurance for far too long. Once a capable governess, she is now the companion to the wealthy widow, Viola Harrington, whose biting tongue and tight grip control not only Nancy’s days but also her purse, her prospects, and her very freedom. Invisible and dismissed as a woman of no consequence, Nancy is expected to be grateful for her lot. She is not.

Longing for independence, Nancy dares to hope when an unexpected ally, Rupert Elliott, enters her life, thanks to the discreet machinations of Frances Pebbleton, a bathing-hut attendant with a secret penchant for matchmaking. Rupert offers the tantalising possibility of honest employment, and with it, escape. Nancy begins to imagine a future that is finally her own.

But her employer senses the threat. Determined not to lose her companion, the widow strikes first, revealing secrets meant to bind Nancy forever.

As Nancy and Rupert work together to free her from a life of captivity, their alliance deepens, and Nancy faces a choice no one ever expected her to have. She must choose between independence on her terms and love, despite the associated risks.

This is a tender Regency romance of later-life opportunities and a heroine who dares to be strong.