Elizabeth Beacon - The Governess Heiress

Forbidden to the undercover earl!

Hiding from society, heiress Eleanor Hancourt must live as ordinary governess Nell Court to escape her family’s scandals. But when the new estate manager arrives, her quiet existence is disrupted. He may be unspeakably arrogant, but he’s also irresistible!

Fergus is really the Earl of Barberry, undercover to investigate his own estate. Instead, he discovers the new governess is an illicit temptation, a match that can never be! Yet when Nell’s secret inheritance puts her in peril, Fergus will do whatever it takes to save her...

How would it feel to be kissed by him as if she were lovely, sensuous and desirable?

How might it feel actually to be those things to a man she wanted so badly it didn’t matter about social distinctions or correct behaviour any more?

For the longest and most charged moments of her life so far those questions sang between them as if she had spoken them aloud. Her lips parted without her permission; his fascinated gaze was encouragement enough. Her entire body was aware of itself as never before. Every breath was a novelty as the scent and power and sight of him reached a curious and dangerous place inside her and whispered, Maybe .

A curve of almost tender amusement lifted his mouth in a wry smile. Her feet rose on tiptoe, inviting him to lower his head and let wild, reckless Eleanor Hancourt out of her cage the instant he kissed her...

Author Note

During the Regency period a governess wasn’t regarded as an equal by her employers, but she didn’t belong in the servants’ hall either. She had to earn the respect of her pupils and employers, and teach young ladies all the accomplishments that would fit them for high society, but not turn them into blue stockings. Then she had to hand them on to a suitable chaperon and find a new position where she could do it all again with another set of strangers—if she was lucky.

The moment I began to wonder if any of them enjoyed taking on such a challenge Eleanor Hancourt turned up, as if she’d been waiting for a chance to have her say. With enough secrets in her travelling box to keep a novelist happy for months, and a hero who tells almost as many lies as she does, she has been a joy to write about.

So this is Nell’s story. Anyone who read The Winterley Scandal , in which Nell’s brother Colm meets the love of his life, will recognise some characters in this book, but The Governess Heiress is also intended to stand alone—just as bright, determined and ever-so-slightly bossy Nell Hancourt had to when her wicked uncle turned her out into the world to earn her own bread.

The Governess Heiress

Elizabeth Beacon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ELIZABETH BEACONhas a passion for history and storytelling and, with the English West Country on her doorstep, never lacks a glorious setting for her books. Elizabeth tried horticulture, higher education as a mature student, briefly taught English, and worked in an office before finally turning her daydreams about dashing piratical heroes and their stubborn and independent heroines into her dream job: writing Regency romances for Mills & Boon Historical Romance.

Books by Elizabeth Beacon

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

A Year of Scandal: Spin-off

The Winterley Scandal

The Governess Heiress

A Year of Scandal

The Viscount’s Frozen Heart

The Marquis’s Awakening

Lord Laughraine’s Summer Promise

Redemption of the Rake

Linked by Character

The Duchess Hunt

The Scarred Earl

The Black Sheep’s Return

Stand-Alone Novels

A Most Unladylike Adventure

Candlelit Christmas Kisses

‘Governess Under the Mistletoe’

Visit the Author Profile page

at millsandboon.co.ukfor more titles.

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Author Note

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

‘I would rather be outside, too, Lavinia, but you said it was too cold to learn as we walked this morning. Now we’re inside you still won’t listen,’ Eleanor Hancourt said sternly. ‘Remind us how many rods make a furlong.’

Nell’s eldest pupil went on staring out of the high schoolroom window and it took Caroline’s nudge to jolt her cousin out of a daydream. ‘Archbishop of Canterbury, Miss Court,’ Lavinia said triumphantly.

‘We have moved on from Plantagenet kings and troublesome priests, Lavinia Selford. British history was this morning.’

‘Oh,’ said Lavinia listlessly. ‘Well, it doesn’t matter, does it?’

‘Kindly explain how the fate of Kings and measuring God’s creation are unimportant, Lavinia,’ Nell said softly, although she wanted to let her temper rip.

‘Because I don’t care. Knowing such rubbishy stuff won’t get me a husband and a fine house in London,’ Lavinia replied defiantly.

‘Being a well-bred mother to his children will be enough for you, then?’

‘No, he will adore me and when I make my debut I’ll dance and have fun while you sew for the poor and read improving books out loud of an evening.’

Nell mentally conceded the girl could be right about the dullness of their current lives, even if everything else she had to say showed how immature Lavinia was. It was dull in this half-closed-up house at the back of beyond. Even she, the girls’ governess, was only three and twenty and sometimes longed for more and now it was temptingly within reach. Except nobody else really cared if they were happy or miserable, so long as they didn’t cause trouble. So she would have to stay until the Earl of Barberry came to take responsibility for his wards and the estate, but that seemed about as likely as pigs learning to fly.

Her authority felt fragile even after two years teaching the man’s orphaned wards, but at least he wasn’t here to challenge it. He had never been here to see if she was doing her job properly. He hadn’t even bothered to meet his young cousins during the decade he’d been head of the Selford family. The Earl left the country as soon as he heard his grandfather was dead and had stayed away ever since. Even two years on from being brought in to try and drive knowledge and ladylike behaviour into the Misses Selford, Nell was too young for such a role. Now she was an heiress to add to her puzzles, but she could think about that when Lavinia wasn’t as slyly confident she was going to win their latest battle.

‘I am well born and pretty and I have a good figure and a fine dowry,’ the girl listed smugly, the difference between them sharp in her light blue eyes.