Thomasina

"I'll never marry, never!" twenty-one-year-old Thomasina declared, scorning the flirtations and matchmakings that were the very breath of Regency society.

Orphaned and impoverished, she had seen her highborn father gamble away their meager fortune and drive her mother to an early grave. No. Tommie was determined to remain a governess, a tree-climbing, fun-loving governess who deserved her boyish nickname.

But it was Tommie's very rebelliousness that thrust her into the arms of Lord Longeton, Marquess of Thornhill. His dark, brooding good looks cast an irresistible spell. How could she dream of becoming his wife? How could she fall in love with the cold-hearted gambler who had stripped her family of land -- and life?