Miss Whiting and the Seven Wards
For best friends Sara, Ella, and Rosamond, life thus far has been anything but a fairy tale. Left to grow up at Mrs. Parson's Academy for Girls, they have little to look forward to upon graduation—not even a Season in London! But, as each young lady is about to learn, Fate, for all her fickleness, is sometimes kind—and happy endings may be found in the most unexpected places... Mirror, mirror, on the wall... For Miss Sara Whiting, the only thing harder than parting ways with her two best school chums is returning to a loveless home. Although she is aware of her stepmother's money-grubbing ways, Sara never suspects that the lady would turn to violence. But after a suspicious assault, she awakens to find herself in a warm bed in a cozy cottage—rescued by seven young boys in need of a savior of their own... ...Who will be the first to fall? War wounds have effectively retired Sir Evan Beaumont from his soldiering career, while his betrothed has jilted him in favor of a wealthy baron. To make matters worse, he owes a favor to the man who saved his life—namely to evict a widow and her children from his friend's property. But when Evan goes to investigate the tenants, he finds himself charmed by both the cottage and its inhabitants—particularly the lovely young woman whom he can't quite believe is the mother of seven strapping sons. The more time Evan spends with the lady, the more he suspects a secret...and the more he loses his heart.