Serena Barton was a governess until she was fired without references. She wants the duke who is responsible to fork out suitable compensation and intends to sit on a park bench immediately outside his house until she is given her due. If that takes days or even weeks, she’s nevertheless determined to persevere.
The duke of Clermont doesn’t want to deal with Ms Barton, as he is currently trying to figure out a way to get his duchess back. Without his wealthy wife happy, the irresponsible duke has no income and she’s really not going to be happy if she finds a scorned woman sitting outside their town house. So the duke sends his right hand man, former boxer Hugo Marshall, known in society as the Wolf of Clermont, to deal with the vexing female on his doorstep. She needs to be got rid of, and quickly at that.
Hugo Marshall is the son of a coal miner and intends to become very rich. Working for the duke is only a step on the way, but he does need to make sure the dissolute nobleman stays solvent, as if the duke doesn’t have money, Hugo won’t get any either. He therefore needs to deal with the “employment dispute” that Clermont has dropped in his lap – but quickly comes to find that Ms. Barton isn’t easily intimidated. Come rain or shine, she shows up on her bench and while she initially refuses to tell Mr Marshall anything about why she wants compensation from the duke, as the days pass, he comes to understand more and more, and it becomes increasingly more difficult for him to stay loyal to his employer.
Full review on my blog.
As of me posting this, the novella is available for free on Amazon.
Thanks for the review and the heads-up about the fact that it’s free right now. I was wondering about your recommendation about buying the rest of the stories. I had already purchased Suffragette Scandal and Countess Conspiracy and now I have this but Amazon has the entire boxed set (Kindle version) on sale for $9.99. Is it worth picking that up even though I already have half the stories or should I just keep my eyes open for the other books to go on sale?
I would happily pay that amount, even if I already owned part of it, but I also adore Courtney Milan. If the set includes everything (four novels, three novellas), then it’s well worth it. I would rate nothing in this series lower than 3.5 stars and consider The Suffragette Scandal an utterly perfect book. It’s in my top ten romances of all time.
Thanks – I snagged it and look forward to reading them all!
I do so love this one. I think a reread might be in order shortly.