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An enchanting romantic adventure with an intriguing mystery at its core! Perfect for fans of Georgette Heyer, Mary Balogh, Jane Aiken Hodge and Jane Austen.

Will Kitty find the happy ending she’s always dreamed of…?

1795, England

Having grown up with her two best friends Prudence and Nell at the Paddington Charitable Seminary for Indigent Young Ladies, Kitty Merrick is now being urged to take up a position as a governess.

However, she is determined to resist the path that has been laid out for her. Convinced that she is the illegitimate daughter of two nobles, Kitty believes she is fated to marry a lord and take her place in Society.

A chance meeting with Claud, Viscount Devenick, quickly throws her life into disarray. Mistaking Kitty for his cousin, he compels her to accompany him home — only to find that she is at the centre of a long-buried family scandal.

Curious about Kitty’s past and keen to upset his cold-hearted mother, Claud asks Kitty to marry him. Enchanted by the prospect of becoming a viscountess, Kitty accepts.

But married life is far from what she expected. With Claud preoccupied and often away from home, Kitty soon grows lonely. And when everyone in Claud’s family refuses to speak of her origins, she begins to despair of ever finding out who she really is…

How is Kitty connected to Claud’s family? Can she find a way to make her marriage work?

Or will she come to regret her hasty elopement…?

KITTY is the third book in the Governess heart-warming Regency romance novels with strong female lead characters.

THE GOVERNESS
BOOK Prudence
BOOK Nell
BOOK Kitty

278 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2003

52 people are currently reading
40 people want to read

About the author

Elizabeth Bailey

95 books304 followers
An avid reader from an early age, Elizabeth Bailey grew up in colonial Africa under unconventional parentage and with theatre in the blood. Back in England, she trod the boards until discovering her true métier as a writer in her thirties, when she fulfilled an early addiction to Georgette Heyer by launching into historical romance. Eight years and eight books later, Elizabeth joined the Harlequin Mills & Boon stable, fuelling her writing with a secondary career teaching and directing drama, and writing plays into the bargain.

With 18 historicals published, Elizabeth turned to other genres, producing two titles (Fly the Wild Echoes and For One More Tomorrow) in the cross-genre literary/paranormal field as well as a suspense novella (Silence of a Stranger). She has several short stories available too and a guide for writers on editing.

Continuing her foray into other genres, but returning to her favourite historical period, Elizabeth turned to mystery. She placed her female sleuth in the late Georgian world of intrigue, elegance, aristocrats and rogues, where privilege rubbed shoulders with the harsh realities of making ends meet. While Ottilia moves in the upper echelon of Society, she is thoroughly at ease in the lower, which allows Elizabeth to cross boundaries with impunity. These novels are now published with Sapere Books and the list continues to grow.

Sapere also publish her Brides by Chance Regency Adventures, a series dedicated to the countless women who could not ordinarily hope for romance and marriage: poor relations, dowerless females, those who did not "take", orphans. In a word, the classic Cinderella heroine.

Now retired from teaching, Elizabeth concentrates on writing and promotion, with a sideline in running an assessment critique service for writers.

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5 stars
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67 (33%)
3 stars
32 (16%)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for GG.
613 reviews9 followers
February 3, 2019
The best of the Governesses Trilogy.
Profile Image for Alison.
686 reviews
January 14, 2018
A rather mismatched pair, Claud and Kitty. Their romance did not really ring true. I still cannot really get past how closely they were related either.
Profile Image for Lisa.
1,568 reviews
March 28, 2025
I was glad to finally meet the fanciful Kitty. Goodness, she has quite the backstory. Claud is a reforming nodcock, thank goodness. A good finish to an enjoyable series.
247 reviews3 followers
July 21, 2019
Not clean - but married at least

Add one other reviewer mentioned. There is an explicit love scene, actually two, but it did occur at least in marriage. Yet I still he'll it is unnecessary to make the scenes so explicit. The story can be just as good without the details.
That being said, I loved this story, in that it varied from the other two friends of kitty's. It was a unique story and I loved the mystery of her birth.
Just skip the explicit stuff.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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