The Duchess and the Highwayman — Beverley Oakley

A duchess disguised as a lady's maid is framed for the murder of her brutal husband. A gentleman disguised as a highwayman is in pursuit of justice. Who will save whom from the gallows? *** When Phoebe, Lady Cavanaugh, is captured by a highwayman, she assumes the identity of her lady's maid. Wearing only the blood-stained chemise in which she was forced to flee her remote manor house, she must now trade on her wit and beauty to keep a roof over her head while she plans her escape. Hugh Redding has his own reasons for hunting the man who wants the apparently missing Lady Cavanaugh tried and hanged for murder. And ‘the maidservant with aspirations above her station' might prove the very weapon he needs - once he teaches her how to behave like a lady. But when Phoebe mysteriously disappears, Hugh realises his feelings for the spirited wench he'd set out to tame are far deeper than he'd realised - while his search for her reveals a very different woman from the one who'd declared her love for him the night he last saw her.