My Reluctant Earl — Shirley Karr

How did a respectable spinster end up hiding an earl in her bedchamber?Miss Ashley Hamlin has two months of the London Season to find a husband or another job at a ladies' academy. Despite her experience and spotless reputation, rejection letters are piling up. And the gentlemen of the ton show no interest in courting this bluestocking.David, Earl of Ravencroft, is a talented musician and singer who reluctantly inherited his title after a family tragedy. He gave up the carefree life of a second son and takes his new duty to protect very seriously. Perhaps too seriously: he winds up unconscious and bleeding after defending a woman. He never expected to see again the lady he had previously rescued ... yet here Ashley is, tending his wounds, concealing him and his secret identity.Despite their friendship blossoming into romance, they both have secrets. Secrets that could tear them apart and ruin their carefully planned lives if exposed. Add in David's affectionate but nosy sisters, a patron who doesn't take no for an answer, and a prestigious competition David's siblings want his help to win ... and his path to happily-ever-after with Ashley is anything but smooth.A lighthearted, slow burn, friends to lovers story with more humor than heat, just a little too naughty to call it sweet.Potential trigger warning: This story includes a Regency-style attempted date rape scene early on. Emphasis on attempted.