Miranda de Courtenay stepped over the threshold into the tea room that was one of the great attractions of her favourite London Bookshop.Her sister Grace was browsing for something to take to read at the beach, and when Grace was choosing books, she could not be hurried. Miranda had fidgeted until Grace’s need for peace overwhelmed her wish to keep Miranda firmly under her eye.

As if Miranda was going to cause a scandal in a bookshop! Or anywhere else, to be sure. She had only provisionally been forgiven for the last one. Which was most unfair, because it had all turned out very well.

She scanned the rather full tearoom, looking for acquaintances or at least an empty chair.

“Miss de Courtenay?” The voice came from the left, and when she turned, she saw the Duchess of Haverford. Miranda curtseyed, blushing. She had coloured every time she saw Her Grace ever since the outrageous way the duchess’s sons had behaved at the house party two years ago. Which Miranda had been blamed for, of course, though she had only been flirting. Everyone flirted. It did not excuse what they suggested!

So embarrassing!

“It is rather crowded today, my dear. Come and sit with me. I have been wishing to speak with you.”

One did not refuse a duchess. Miranda pasted on a smile and took the chair to which she had been bidden.

For a few minutes, the duchess was busy ordering more tea and cakes, but far too quickly, the servant brought the order, and they were alone.

Her Grace spoke of trivialities until Miranda had her cup and had raised it to her lips. “How goes your search for a suitable lord, Miss de Courtenay?”

Miranda fought not to spray the tea everywhere, and choked on it instead. By the time she had stopped coughing, she at least had an excuse for her bright red face.

Yes, she wanted a husband who would bring her the title ‘lady’. It was so unfair that the rest of her family had titles and she didn’t. Adrian had unexpectedly inherited an earldom, and Grace was a countess by her first marriage and the wife of a duke’s son in her second, a lady twice over.

But how did Her Grace know that was what Miranda wanted?

“If I may exercise an old lady’s privilege, my dear, I would like to give you a thought to consider.”

Miranda nodded, of course, though she was sure she did not wish to hear what the duchess had to say.

“A title is for public places, Miss de Courtenay. A husband, on the other hand, has a right to be with you day and night, in public and in private. Be very sure that the person you choose is one you wish to spend the rest of your life with. Character is more important than social status or  surface attraction. Your brother and your sister both married for love, and that choice has much to recommend it.”

Miranda could not resist an answer. “Surely one can fall in love with a titled man as easily as with a commoner?” she asked.

The duchess smiled as she sipped her tea. “Love is not easy to command, my dear,” she replied, “but you shall see.”

Miranda will find out the truth of the duchess’s observation, when she meets a man who cannot give her what she thinks she wants, but whom she cannot forget.

Before I Found You: A de Courtenay Novella By Sherry Ewing

A quest for a title. An encounter with a stranger. Will she choose love?

Miss Miranda de Courtenay has only one goal in life: to find a rich husband who can change her status from Miss to My Lady.

Captain Jasper Rousseau has no plans to become infatuated during a chance encounter at a ball.

Their connection is hard to dismiss, despite Miranda’s quest for a title at all cost. What if the cost includes love?

Storm & Shelter: A Bluestocking Belles Collection With Friends

When a storm blows off the North Sea and slams into the village of Fenwick on Sea, the villagers prepare for the inevitable: shipwreck, flood, land slips, and stranded travelers. The Queen’s Barque Inn quickly fills with the injured, the devious, and the lonely—lords, ladies, and simple folk; spies, pirates, and smugglers all trapped together. Intrigue crackles through the village, and passion lights up the hotel.

One storm, eight authors, eight heartwarming novellas.

Find out more on the Bluestocking Belles’ project page. 

Only 99c while on preorder. Published April 13th.