The Dutiful Duke

the long version

A LADY INCENSED Miss Thomasina "Nia" Pringle has resolved to champion the cause of an innocent child illegitimately sired and then abandoned by an unscrupulous aristocrat. And so the beautiful, high-spirited schoolteacher confronts the blackguard's brother and insists that he acknowledge the unfortunate waif. A GALLANT GENTLEMAN Wyatt Perryvale is aghast when a strange woman steals into his coach, points a gun at him...and demands that he accept responsibility for a fatherless urchin! The child's resemblance to Wyatt's late, lamented brother is uncanny, however. So the sad, fair-minded lord agrees to take her in and hires the audacious Miss Pringle to act as her governess--never dreaming that Nia has much to teach him as well...about joy, and living, and love.