The Calico Countess

the long version

SHE was the answer to his prayers and he had no intention of letting her go Emily Merriweather Harding had little idea that when she rescued the tipsy, grimy, aging ragamuffin from a gang of youthful thugs, she had rescued a countess. Claiming to have been assumed lost at sea some seventeen years past, the cantankerous but loveable old gammer demanded to be taken home to her beloved only son, James Carstairs, Earl of Berrington. Emily anticipated a tender reunion. She was not prepared for the earl's angry ultimatum. Either Emily stay to chaperon her accomplice or he would put them both back on the street where they belonged!