The Lady's Masquerade — Anne Gallagher

Someone is trying to kill Lady Penelope Leighton's father, and now the fiend has turned his sights on her. Frightened, she flees London masquerading as a traveling companion for her elderly aunt. When William Smith, the Earl of Westerly, arrives in London to a hero's welcome he does not want, he takes the stewardship at his cousin's manor in Wakefield-by-the-Sea to escape. He is more than surprised when he meets the mysterious Miss Penny Higgins residing there with a persnickety duchess. Miss Higgins' unfathomable beauty and stunning intellect are in direct contrast to her dowdy clothes and recurring stutter. William discerns the ladies are in trouble, it's obvious they are in hiding, and William means to find out why, but no one is talking. Before either of them realizes it, they've lost their hearts â€" Penny to a man who she thinks is a steward, and William to a woman destined for a duke. After Penny's true identity and reason for hiding are revealed to William, he immediately engages his friends in a campaign to help catch the blackguard who threatens her. However, upon their return to London, a confounding chain of events leads them right into the villain's trap. Can William save her before it's too late?