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Chapter One

Haland

August 1852

Anyone who had ever read a novel knew that governesses were supposed to be meek and downtrodden They were also supposed to be quiet, subservient, and obedient, not to mention deferential to the master of the house Leo, Lord Raotten one of those Instead the Hathaway family had hired Catherine Marks, who, in Leo’s opinion, cast an unflattering shadow upon the entire profession

It wasn’t that Leo found fault with Marks’s actual abilities She had done an excellent job of instructing his two youngest sisters, Poppy and Beatrix, in the finer points of social etiquette And they had needed an inordinate amount of help, since none of the Hathaways had ever expected to le in the upper circles of British society They had been reared in a strictly e west of London Their father, Edward Hathaway, had been a ood blood but hardly an aristocrat

However, after a series of unlikely events, Leo had inherited the title of Lord Rah he had trained to be an architect, he was now a viscount with land and tenants The Hathaways had led to adjust to the demands of their new life

One of the greatest challenges for the Hathaway sisters had been to learn the absurdladies Had it not been for Catherine Marks’s patient instruction, the Hathaould have ra elephants Marks had done wonders for all of them, especially Beatrix, as undoubtedly the h Beatrix was happiest roh the ed to impress on her that a different code of behavior was required in the ballrooirls, with such literary gems as:

Young ladies must display restraint

When speaking with a stranger

Flirtations, quarrels, or complaints

Put our reputations in danger