[The Six Pearls of Baron Ridlington 03] • Word of a Lady

**”I learned something this morning. If you want to divert a man’s attention away from his baser desires, just ask him about himself. Then listen with an appearance of interest while he discourses at length on numerous boring self-deceptions.”**

*Miss Letitia Ridlington in conversation, Autumn, 1814*

Ridlington Village inn doesn’t seem like the place for Fate to linger and meddle in the affairs of mortals. Letitia Ridlington certainly doesn’t think so; she’s there to meet a publisher who has expressed interest in her first—rather scandalous—novel.

But before she can sign the contract, she encounters a lady in distress, and by lunchtime she has an almost complete promise of publication, along with a new maid, Harriet Selkirk.

Sir James FitzArden patiently accepts his growing affection for Letitia, but feels no rush to declare himself. Until the revelations within a certain manuscript open his eyes to surprises hidden beneath her demure façade. It’s time for him to claim her, and he begins his campaign, but the lady herself has a very strong will, along with ideas that don’t exactly match his. Nobody seems to notice that others are also keeping a close eye on Letitia and her new companion.

An importunate duck will offer his opinions, some shocking interludes will raise more than a few genteel eyebrows, and there will be flirtatious stable hands, as well as an outrageous suggestion or two. Letitia is about to lead James into a frustrating dance, and it isn’t the quadrille...