Above All Others — Karen Ranney

The daughter of an impecunious baron --- and a woman with few llusions and even fewer assets --- Katherine Sanderson has just accepted the position of governess to the infant daughter of the Earl of Moncrief. The notorious, sinfully handsome nobleman has deposited the babe at a crumbling country estate, to be raised by servants. Although it is more than many an aristocrat would do for a child born on the wrong side of the blanket, Katherine disdains his selfish arrogance . . . even as she finds herself falling beneath his sensual spell.

For Freddie Lattimore, Earl of Moncrief, his illegitimate child is a constant reminder of a life he would rather forget. But the exquisite Katherine tempts him as no woman ever has. When he devises a scandalous scheme for conquest, Katherine doesn't merely accept his outrageous proposal, she astonishes him with a passion that exceeds his own.