Ladies Least Likely Series by Misty Urban

Eleven years ago, ragtag near-orphan Harriette Smythe made a lifelong friend when she defended the young Earl of Renwick from the village boys persecuting him for his stammer and clubfoot. When Ren returns to London with all the polish of his Grand Tour and the need to take up his duties, he finds a woman in crimson silk shimmying through his window: Harriette, all grown up into a delectable woman, who offers him a startling proposal... moreEleven years ago, ragtag near-orphan Harriette Smythe made a lifelong friend when she defended the young Earl of Renwick from the village boys persecuting him for his stammer and clubfoot. When Ren returns to London with all the polish of his Grand Tour and the need to take up his duties, he finds a woman in crimson silk shimmying through his window: Harriette, all grown up into a delectable woman, who offers him a startling proposal.Harriette, now an artist, has been helping support her eccentric household with salacious sketches that have made her notorious, but she needs to redeem herself with a respectable—and rich—clientele if she wants to keep a roof over their heads. She offers Renwick a trade: she’ll help him select a bride from London’s marriageable maidens if he agrees to sit for a portrait.Ren soon falls back under the spell of wild, willful Harriette, the only person who thinks he’s perfect just as he is. But winning the one woman he cannot have will mean risking his life to free her from the grip of her past and the forces bent on tearing them apart. less

Leda Wroth is atoning for the crimes of her past in her new life as a lady’s companion, mentor, and fixer for those seeking love. But finding a wife for the Mad Baron is a task that will defeat even clever, capable Leda, for what woman would want a man—titled or not—rumored to have killed his first wife?Leda will stay in her comfortable establishment in Bath, thank you. Until a ghost comes in search of her—a ghost determined to expose the secrets Leda has kept hidden for eight long years... moreLeda Wroth is atoning for the crimes of her past in her new life as a lady’s companion, mentor, and fixer for those seeking love. But finding a wife for the Mad Baron is a task that will defeat even clever, capable Leda, for what woman would want a man—titled or not—rumored to have killed his first wife?Leda will stay in her comfortable establishment in Bath, thank you. Until a ghost comes in search of her—a ghost determined to expose the secrets Leda has kept hidden for eight long years.Jack Burnham, Baron Brancaster of Holme Hall, isn’t mad—he doesn’t think. But he does need a governess for his daughter, and Leda Wroth seems the woman to help him, even if he suspects she’s running away from something. Even if she raises longings for a life he knows he can’t have.But how can Jack convince Leda she’s safe with him when Holme Hall holds secrets of its own? For more than one betrayal haunts the windy cliffs of Norfolk where the mad baron’s wife died. And while Jack might try desperately to shield Leda from the mistakes of his own past, he can’t protect her from the ghosts in hers, which are hellbent on taking away everything she’s come to love. less