Mary Porter does not need to work. Now that her father had inherited a fortune she could stay at home until she is married. Yet she misses her little Dame school, misses the children and so she agrees to take a post as governess to the children of the cold and austere Earl of Pennington.

His children seem so sad to her but it is not long before Mary’s tongue gets her into trouble. Has she lost the job and her chance to improve on the children’s lives?

The Duke had never seen what Mary saw but now he thinks he may have been a little hasty. Are his children sad or the naughty beasts their nanny would have him believe?

Mary hears rumors about his wife and why she is not there, but she knows it is not her place to interfere. That is until she inadvertently reads the Duke’s secret. It is one he has only recently discovered and it threatens to destroy his life and that of his children.

Has he found an ally in Mary? Will she track down the truth and if she does will it save him or bring his Earldom crashing down around his feet?