A Second Summertime Courtship — Sandra Sookoo

She is full of doubt. He has been created by confidence. Obstacles are naught but steppingstones to a future they are trying to deny.

Miss Cora Hasting -- middle daughter of Baron Landover -- is not happy. Having lived with reduced circumstances for a few years, she aspires to so much more than making her position as a companion to the elderly Mrs. Bromington. This is her lot, especially after being jilted at the altar, but when a handsome navy man -- the very same man who left her years ago -- captures her attention and makes an appearance, her malcontent doubles.

Captain Peregrine Wetherford has tried for the past three years to put his mistakes behind him. Decorated naval officer, left with scars and wounds for his service, he's made a passable living attending various social functions and accepting coin for speaking engagements. However, during one fateful evening when he accidentally runs into his former fiancée, his past and his future collide, and this time he refuses to run.

Sparks -- and words -- fly between Cora and her former beau, but while she might be willing to forgive, she can't forget, and neither will her cantankerous employer allow her time for a romance. To say nothing of the fact the captain is supposedly courting someone else. Despite that fly in the ointment, old desires flares anew, and as scandal becomes their constant companion, they both must puzzle out what -- and who -- they want the most despite the problems that threaten to tear them apart…

…lest history repeat itself.